A number of changes were made to the starting line-up for
Staveley Miners Welfares long midweek trip to Albion Sports. With Adam Scott
and Alex Pugh unavailable, George Johnson and Chris Baugh came in to fill the
gap and Steve Carty came back in as he recovered from the calf injury which
forced him to miss the last game.
Richard Mintoft continued in central defence and replaced
Matt Varley as Staveleys captain who, this week came to the mutual decision
that he should leave the club and departs with their thanks for his efforts
this season and a good luck message for the future...
Also missing was Greg Fitzpatrick and Nathan Jessop who
moved to the bench.
Both Staveley and their opponents are firmly ensconced in
mid table and with just a few more games to go, on paper it would appear that
other than professional pride both teams have nothing to play for, and
unfortunately it reflected that on the grass too.
A scrappy opening saw Ash Rawson trying to thread a ball
through for Courtney hasting to run onto but Mark Bowers in the Albion goal
came out to gather.
Both sides struggled all night to get anything going in an
attacking sense but Albion nearly made the break through after five minutes
when a misunderstanding between Kieren Watson and Charlie Ogglesby caused a
Staveley attack to break down and allowed Asif Hussain to sweep the ball
forward for the Lions where only a great tackle from Chris Baugh chasing back prevented
Matt Mathers a clean run on goal.
Fifteen minutes in and the home side created one of their
very few chances in the entire match when Matt Mathers played in Levi Maturine
with a reverse ball inside Charlie Oglesby who without a winger in front of him
due to the 4-3-3 formation Staveley were playing was left exposed. Maturine
fired the ball into a crowded box where it would only need a faint touch from
the many attackers and defenders alike who were steaming towards the goal but,
thankfully no one got that touch and out to safety it went.
It would be a massive over exaggeration to say Staveley were
“struggling” to stay in the game but the home side definitely had the better
chances. Next to try was Levi Maturine but his shot went well wide and Joe
Bardens whistled just over.
Richard Mintoft had to clear from underneath his own
crossbar when a freekick from the left was swung into the box by Micheal
O’Brien and Matt Mathers launched a late bid for the “miss of the season” award
when he redirected a cross, again from the left well wide, when it looked
easier to score and that signalled the end of a rather drab first half.
HT: Albion Sports 0 – 0 Staveley MW
The second half saw an improvement of sorts from the Trojans
but not until the fifty sixth minute did it come alive as far as chances were
concerned when Courtney Hastings found himself on the left touchline. Faced by
Sam Bradley, Hastings kept the ball moving forward and flashed the ball across
the six yard box for a waiting Dan Fletcher who, could only put it wide.
That was the last action for Dan Fletcher who was replaced
by Nathan Jessop and that move prompted a change to a 4-4-2 which seemed to
suit Staveley better.
Steve Carty had the honour of having Staveleys first shot on
target, just before the hour but his edge of the box effort was easily gathered
by Mark Bowers. But, Another chance wasn’t long in coming though when Ash
Rawson, looped a pass into Kieren Watson who from six yards out instead of waiting for the ball to drop so he could shoot
low as it fell chose to take it early and tried to shove it over Bowers but
only succeeded in passing it back to Albion’s ‘keeper.
It didn’t get much better and Staveley had Richard Mintoft
to thank as the clock ticked down to full time when not once but twice he came
to the rescue… Firstly heading rising to head out Mohammed Kaba’s cross into
the box for a corner which, resulted in several more corners and a nervous
moment for Staveley ‘keeper Chris Butt who came out to initially clear a cross
which fell kindly to Joe Barden but Mintoft was alert to the danger and cleared
the shot off the line to, end a game that won’t live long in the memory of the
decent following from North Derbyshire.
FT: Albion Sports 0 –
0 Staveley MW
SMWFC: 1.Chris Butt.2.Jack Hutchinson.3.Charlie
Ogglesby.4.Ash Rawson.5.Richard Mintoft.6.Chris Baugh.7.George Johnson.(14.
Mohammed Tijani).8.Steve Carty.9.Courtney Hastings.(12.Matt Robinson).10.Kieren
Watson.11.Dan Fletcher. (15.Nathan Jessop)
Attendance: 61
Man of the Match: Ash Rawson – Desire, commitment and won
just about every tackle covering every blade of grass three or four times
during the 90 minutes.
