|
October 27th 2007
Rhos United v Llandudno Junction Reserves.
After a disappointing result last week at Home, we found ourselves
travelling to Rhos to face another derby. This week our Captain
asked all players to wear a baseball cap, the only person to be
without a hat was Phil the Filth who allegedly has had his hat
pinched! With the game being so close to home the lads had an extra
hour to recover from their Friday night antics, something I thought
we had put behind us when we left the Anglesey league, obviously
not. With Mike being unavailable due to family commitments, we
contacted the First team for the services of Joey so this week the
squad was as follows:-
Joey Welsh
Sion Watson, Phil Williams, Scott Jones, Chris Darbey,
James Hobson, Nathan Watson © MOM, Danny Parry, Ross Stevens
Tom Roberts 1 and Matt Hughes 1
Aaron Jones on for Tom Roberts
Ashley Jones on for James Hobson
Unused subs Craig Evans.
With the game being played at Brookfield Drive where we used to play
our Sunday league games many moons ago, we found ourselves in the
same position as many Sunday league teams do week in week out,
without a Referee! After some phone calls and a check up on the
rules it was agreed that Andrew Williams the secretary of Rhos
United who is a qualified referee would ref the game, at first I was
a bit dubious of this but Andy went about his job in a very
professional manner. When we eventually got under way Rhos put
pressure on and robbed the ball from Hobbo played the ball forward
and then delivered a good cross into the box but to their dismay
there was no one on the end of it. In the 3rd minute Hobbo volleyed
tamely at the Rhos goal, then Sion attacked down the right hand side
who, played the ball to Matt which the defender put out for a
corner, Hobbo delivered perfectly to Tom who headed home 0-1. With
the confidence of a goal the lads attacked and Nathan found Ross
with a neat through ball who was unlucky with his shot.
The game was very direct and very scrappy the windy conditions
weren’t helping, Joey whose kicking was excellent throughout
launched a big kick which found Matt who flicked on to Ross who
passed to Tom who slightly miss controlled and their keeper
collected easily, when the keeper played the ball forward Darbey
regained possession played it to Ross who put Matt through who hit a
fantastic shot which was saved well. It took us until the 26th
minute to play some good controlled football where it was one or two
touch and we kept possession, and when Rhos did manage to get hold
of the ball Sion Watson made a cracking tackle passed to Danny who
beat one player who then passed to Ross who clipped the ball forward
but just got to much on it. The 31st minute saw Rhos have a free
kick which was punched clear to Tom who ran with the ball passed to
Matt who was tackled by the Rhos captain. After some weeks out of
the team Tom gave a good account of himself and was unlucky when he
won possession turned his marker, went out wide and crossed into the
box but Matt just couldn’t get his head to the ball. With 40 minutes
on the clock Scott got clattered by Nathan and was down for some
time after some magic water he was back on his feet a barking his
orders out, Rhos hit a low shot which hit the side netting and then
they were awarded a corner which we didn’t deal with and was
converted by Rhos’s number 9, this was right on half time and gave a
score line of 1-1.
The lads came off at half time very frustrated and after some
discussion about certain things we explained that Rhos were only
ever going to score through a set piece so try and avoid giving them
the opportunity to deliver into our box. Rhos attacked from the kick
off and when Darbey was pushed off the ball they were unlucky to
shoot over, it took us a further ten minutes to get going but when
we did we played some very good football which resulted in Matt
shooting just wide. The blustery conditions were not helping at all
but Joey seemed to deal with everything that came his way and when
he released Danny who fed Nathan instantly who chipped just over we
thought we would push on. Again we battled hard and put our selves
all over the park and in the 62nd minute Hobbo took another corner
which was cleared to Matt who struck a certain goal but was denied
by the keeper who parried the ball to Scott who headed straight into
the keepers arms. This week saw us very poor in the final third and
our final ball or the decision on a pass or shot was awful, we had a
chance to put our foot through the ball three times and burst the
net but we decided to pass the ball and eventually the game was
brought to a stop as Phil was offside!
The game was very open and we were the dominant force but we just
couldn’t get the 2nd goal to settle us down, Hobbo controlled the
ball and crossed to Ross who chested the ball down played it to Matt
but he couldn’t get the ball out of his feet. The second half we
stopped moaning and the game was easier in the 76th minute we played
the ball forward to Ross who found Hobbo with a delightful pass but
again Rhos stood firm and denied us a goal scoring opportunity, then
came possibly the biggest talking point of the game the ball was
played into the Rhos Penalty area the ball was blocked blantly with
a hand the referee failed to give it, although all the Rhos players
stopped as they knew it was a hand ball most of our players stopped
to claim for the pen but as the ball fell to Matt he wasn’t waiting
for the Ref to blow his whistle he slotted home and made it 1-2.
This wasn’t the best game we have played but the commitment on
display was good and the boys battled to the end Matt was unlucky
not to increase our lead when in the 93rd minute he shot just wide
and in the 95th minute he created another chance for himself but was
once again denied by the Rhos keeper.
Final score 1-2
Another win away and a very grateful 3 points, this was the most
important thing for us, we know the game wasn’t pretty but we ground
it out we would just like to say sorry for the lack of football on
show today to all the supporters who turned up to watch. This
Saturday we entertain Rhyl Nomads in the Junior cup who are mid
table in the Clwyd Premier division this will be another test for us
and hopefully you will come down and show your support
|
|
