Kelly Read Cup
Turks Head 4
Ingleby Arms (Marton) FC 2
This game proved to be an entertaining cup tie which was ultimately settled in the home side’s favour thanks to a brace each from top scorer Steve Foley and young winger Pete Blackmore. Things were not as straightforward as the score line suggests however, starting with the home side commencing the game with just 10 men as injuries and work commitments had left gaffer Stuart Cook with a real selection problem. Thankfully for the hosts, the deadlock had yet to be broken when the 11th man appeared and slotted into the centre of midfield. With the teams now looking a little more balanced it was the home side who duly took the lead on 25 minutes, Blackmore running onto a perfectly weighted through ball and finishing past the advancing goal keeper. As is often the way in football however, you are most at risk of conceding right after scoring and this proved to be the case on the day when the visitors did exactly that. Ingleby’s winger pounced on a defensive error from Turks and lobbed the stranded keeper from fully 35 yards out. This was an outstanding piece of skill which immediately pegged the game back level. Half time arrived at 1-1 with Turks feeling that they had controlled the game well up to this point which left them feeling confident for the second half.
And so, early in the second half, it was the home side who took the lead again. A high ball into the box was fumbled by the keeper onto the toes of Foley who didn’t need to be asked twice to put his side in front again. Not long after Blackmore was at it again, pressing the right back into making an error, before slamming the ball home from 16 yards out. To their credit Ingleby didn’t allow their heads to drop and they fought back to 3-2. A mistake from returning full back Stevie Smith was pounced upon by the visiting winger who crossed for the striker to finish neatly and set up a nervy last 20 minutes. Turks reacted to this by bringing on keeper Martin Ziller, who continues his return from injury, and moving stand-in goalie Danny Dixon to a more familiar midfield berth. This soon paid dividends as Tom O’Rourke powered through the visitors defence before unselfishly squaring to Foley to tap into an unguarded net for 4-2.
The game would finish at that score line, Turks progressing on to a tough Quarter Final against Division Two Waddington United. Special mention also goes out to the referee, Danny Topliss, who had an excellent game. He was prepared to play the advantage when necessary to try and keep the game flowing. This was a good display from the man in black.
Wragby FC 1
Metheringham FC 5
In this Kelly Read cup round 1 tie holders Metheringham FC visited Wragby FC in what was a repeat of last seasons’ final. For the holders it was a potential banana skin of a tie with the home side romping away with Division Three, and being unbeaten in twelve games having scored 55 goals for good measure. Both sides had players missing with Meg unable to field a recognised keeper while Wragby were without one of their key player, striker Parnell. On what was a difficult surface the home side opened positively but once Metheringham adapted to the conditions they soon got into their stride. They took the lead on 13 minutes when a ball played in from the right was initially charged down but it fell to Ben Machin, just outside the box, and his first time shot was helped into the net by striker Ben Garrick. Meg doubled their lead soon after with a similar goal. An attack came down the right and a cross followed which allowed Machin to connect with a shot that took a deflection off a defender to totally wrong foot the keeper. On 25 minutes Meg made a quick counter attack from a Wragby attacking position and a ball over the top was collected by Garrick which he managed to clip over the advancing keeper from the right edge of the area.
Five minutes after the break Garrick was brought down in the penalty area and this saw him take the responsibility of taking the spot kick himself to complete his hat-trick. Unfortunately for Metheringham the home keeper saved the kick, diving to his right. It didn’t take long for Meg to increase their lead however when a free kick on the left was knocked into the area and after a shot was charged down by the keeper, Meg defender Matt Robinson, making his 400th club appearance, rammed home the loose ball. The game was over as a contest on the hour with Joe Willey getting down the left and when Aaron Harrison’s shot was again half saved by the home keeper Garrick was on hand to tuck away Meg’s fifth and his third. For the remaining 30 minutes Meg created several more chances without converting them while the home side, not used to losing, lost some of their discipline. With four minutes remaining they were rewarded for their ‘never say die’ attitude by scoring a consolation goal.
Division One
St Helens FC 0
AFC Plough 5
In a match seen by both sides as a “must win” game due to their respective positions near the bottom of the League it was the Plough who dominated for long periods. St Helens did have the first chance of the match in the second minute but this was well saved by from James Seal in the visitor’s goal. Shortly after it was the visitors who took the lead when Wes Barratt scored from the edge of the area and he then added a second soon after that, giving Plough total control of the game at that stage. Joe CottIngham made it 3 before half time as he came off the bench for the visitors due to injury.
Dom Sibilski made it it 4 before Wes Barratt completed his hat-trick late on to give the Plough a well deserved 3 points in a match that on the day they never looked troubled in. A well deserved clean sheet was just reward for keeper Seal who has pulled off several crucial saves during the season when results on the day have not afforded him the recognition that some of his performances have merited.
The Plough Man of the Match has been awarded to the entire team jointly, all of whom, each to a man, were excellent on the day. Plough now hope that they can kick on from here and enjoy a successful end to the season.
Division Two
Crows Athletic 1
Waddington United 6
Waddington United enjoyed their best win of the season against local rivals, Crows Athletic in the “A607 derby”. Crows took the lead in the first half but Aaron Mettam levelled the score before the break.
Whatever was said at half time certainly worked for Waddington as they came out with all guns blazing as Craig Mitchell gave them the lead 10 minutes into the second half. Max Heath added a third before the goal of the game from Chris Greene made it four. Waddington added two more goals through the evergreen Jason Brothwell. The first set was up by a fabulous defence splitting 40 yard through ball from Tom O’Boyle. The second was a family affair as son William did the hard work by beating three defenders only to see his shot well saved which saw his “old man” grab the glory by tapping home the rebound for a simple finish.
Division Four
Broadley FC 5
Birchwood United 2
Broadley FC went into Sunday’s game knowing that a win would take them to the top of a league they’re desperate to finally get out of. January signing Dale Bowman made this ever more likely early on with an Andy Carroll-esque overhead kick from a Will Fry corner to take the lead. Craig Tysoe continued a rich vein of form with a hat-trick, completed either side of a Stevie Stallard finish from close-range, despite the ball already appearing on its way in from a textbook James Gray header. Needless to say that Mr Gray was not happy! Birchwood made sure the game was always competitive by twice pegging back Broadley from two-goal leads until the game got away from them following the home side’s 5th.
Ian Stephenson