Gedling MW and Heanor Town victories - a few words

A few words on Tues/Weds games:

Tuesday 8^th March 2017 ko 7:45pm
















Gedling MW 1-0 Holbrook Sports

East Midlands Counties League

Admission : £5.00 / £2.50 concession

Attendance : 58

Referee: Mr. Philip Roberts

Line-ups

Gedling: Scott Miles, Mark Littlewood, Kadeem Brown, Adam Whitehead, Grant Walton, Ian Robinson, Chris Hall, Jordan Whitehead (c), Kevin Davis, Anthony Brown, Eugene Francis. Subs: Mark Ballard, Ross Wilson, Jake Athorn, Jamie Bircumshaw, Charlie Wood.

Holbrook: Daniel Graves, Kristian Gilbert, Gary Drake (c), Tom Cooper-Richards, Callum Green, Ben Wallace, Seb Szondi, Jamie Turner, Labrada Domini, Simeon Lawrence, Aaron Daley. Subs: Jordan Stanley-Smith, Jordan Dale, Darnell Smith, Jordan Macey.

Welfare have been really struggling on the pitch recently, which is a shame because this club is so well run and the people behind the scenes are diamonds. Sitting near the foot of the EMCL table,  and without a win since their 2-0 victory at Anstey on December 17^th 2016, the home team weren’t expected to get anything from this game.

Once the game was underway, it was clear why the teams lies 18^th and 21^st respectively in the league  - they seemed unable to pick out a team-mate with a pass – I estimate that 75% of all passes made during the game were to opposition players.  Even short passes were mis-directed, and the pitch was in good nick, so the fault didn’t lie there!

Scott Miles made an impressive save midway through the first half, catching the ball at the second attempt after it looked like the shot was going to loop over his head. Danny Graves in the Holbrook goal was also relatively untroubled during the first 45 minutes. H-T 0-0

The second half was much like the first, although Holbrook appeared to have been awarded a penalty early doors by Mike Precious. His decision though was over-ruled by Mr. Roberts, much to the relief of the home team, and the chagrin of their visitors.

Gedling were awarded a penalty of their own on the hour mark, and skipper JORDAN WHITEHEAD made no mistake from 12 yards. Holbrook had a great chance to level soon after. There was  a bit of a melee in front of goal, and when ball was eventually fired towards the goal, and with the Welfare defenders all over the shop, it was well blocked by a Holbrook player before it was hacked away to safety.  F-T 1-0

Not a game for the purist, and probably rates as one of the poorest displays of the beautiful game that I have witnessed this season – but no-one at the Plains Road club was bothered – a win is a win after all.

Wednesday 9^th March 2017 ko 7:45pm

Heanor Town 4-0 St. Andrews

Midland Football League Premier Division

Admission : £6.00 / £4.00 concession

Attendance: 100

Referee: Mr. Rueben Ricardo

Line-ups

Heanor : Joe McCormack, Greg Marriott, Keenan Layton, Josh Craddock, Shaun Roulston, Gary Conway, Dom Wilkinson, Alex Brown, Joe Naylor, Jay Cooper, Elliott Reeves. Subs: Nathan Benger, Ben Edgson, Jack Warner, James Wilson, George Moore.

St. Andrews: Ben Challis, Ryan Hodgkinson, Lewis Gibbons, Perry Johnson, Sam Preston, Mason Hirst, Rob Morgan, Elliot Putman, Leon Doughty, Shay Brennan, Sam Hollis. Subs: Luay Bashir, Lewis Turland, Mitchell Fairhurst, Ben Tansley.

After this result, Heanor sit in sixth place in the MFL Premier division, and the Saints eighth. The visitors have had a terrific first season in the league after their promotion as champions from the EMCL, so although the victory may have gone as expected, the scoreline was a little unexpected. 

The first half-hour was fairly even, with both teams playing decent stuff but with little reward for their endeavours. Heanor took the lead with five minutes of the first half remaining, JOE NAYLOR stabbing the ball home at the far post after Elliott Reeves ball across the goal was only half dealt with. H-T 1-0

JAY COOPER was a tad lucky with the Town second goal on 58, his 20 yard speculative effort clipping a defender before flying under the body of keeper Ben Challis.  COOPER was far from lucky with his second though in the 70^th minute. After winning the ball some 35 yards from goal, the striker ran past two defenders and into the box - when confronted by another defender he simply side-stepped him, took careful aim and fired past Challis from 10 yards. A superb goal and one that the striker said after was the best he’d ever scored.

I’ve not seen a lot of ELLIOTT REEVES, but the Heanor number 11 was having a great game (opposition MOM), and his performance was topped off with Heanor’s fourth on 73, a shot fired across Challis from 12 yards out. F-T 4-0

I assume Heanor will produce a full match report, and fellow bloggist Nick Palmer will no doubt produce a far more detailed blog entry – I for one, look forward to reading them both.