Saturday
4th March 2017
South
Normanton FC v Selston FC
Central
Midlands Football League South
Admission
£4.00 / £2.00 concession
Attendance:
H/C 100
Referee:
Mr. Kevin Guise
Programme
/ hot food / drinks available
We
arrived at a sunny Lees Lane with plenty of time to spare before the 3:00pm
kick-off. Gave us the chance to have a chat with our Referee friend Scott
Mason. We haven’t seen Scott in action for a while – it transpires that
injuries have curtailed his “middles”, but he assured us that he was on the
mend and hoped to be back in action sooner rather than later. We had our usual
laugh with Robin Bourne, a very witty man, although he does take his duties as
the official’s official “observer” very seriously.
Adam
Gregory provided a copy of the team sheets, and it was something of a surprise
to see the home team field a number of South Normanton Athletic players – but
dual signing is a feature of the non-league game and quite in order.
The game was just 90 seconds old when SEAN GREGORY found space on the right and ran into the box before firing a shot across home keeper Branon Meehan and into the far inside side netting. What a great start to the game that was!
With
8 played, Marc Strzyzewski made a strong challenge on Elliot Jones, a challenge
that was deemed worthy of a caution from Mr. Guise. Marc had to be replaced
shortly after as he was injured going in for another tackle. Nose bleed – blood
and snot everywhere!!!
Shaun
Smith fired just wide for the home team on 22 after a defensive error presented
him with a half decent chance to level. They had an even better opportunity to
draw level five minutes later when they were awarded a penalty for a trip in
the box. Rob Fretwell stepped up to take the spot kick, but his tame effort
gave Jake Ball plenty of time to dive and save.
Selston
had a couple of corners on the half-hour mark that were cleared, and from one
of these clearances the ball fell to Smith who fired at goal and saw the
visiting keeper fumble the ball and send it spinning goalwards. Luckily for
Selston, he was very quick to react and managed to divert the ball around the
post. H-T 0-0
The
first 20 minutes of the second half were nothing to write home about, the best
chance falling to Selston’s Ben Moore who saw his free-kick well save by
Meehan. Luke Crosby fired the ball into the Selston area soon after, but Smith
was unable to convert from close range.
Wayne
Cooke had a decent chance to add to the visitors’ lead on 82, but he could only
watch in disbelief as his lobbed shot crept just over the bar. Smith had
another chance to level in the 85th minute, but once again failed to
connect in front of goal. A couple of
minutes later, Selston right back Grant Hackett saw Meehan in a slightly
advanced position and tried his luck from just inside his own half. Luckily for
Meehan, the ball just cleared the bar!!
In
added time, Smith once again failed to connect in front of goal, and after 6
minutes extra had been played, Mr. Guise brought proceedings to a close – Selston
still top of the league, with just four
games to play. F-T 0-1
