The last game of the season saw Staveley Miners Welfare take
to the field with no less than twelve players under the age of twenty one in
the squad, six of which still have two years at that level and this match would
prove a good test for the young Trojans as they prepare for next season,
against a Pontefract Collieries side who needed the points to escape relegation
to Division One, the very same division they got promoted from last season....
...A revolutionary three man defensive formation was employed
for the first time this season made up of Charlie Oglesby, Richard Mintoft and
Alex Pugh with Greg Fitzpatrick and Nathan Jessop operating as wingbacks. Jack
Hutchinson, Steve Carty and Kurtis Morley occupied midfield with Lewis Naylor
and Adam Scott up front.
It wasn’t a game for the purists and it took a while for
anything of note to happen. After nine minutes of the ball bobbling around
midfield the visitors Kane Reece strode forward and provided a through ball for
Jack Manson but none of his team mates had made the effort to join the attack
and his decent cross flashed harmlessly through the penalty area and out to
safety.
More midfieldness ensued before Charlie Oglesby gave Adam
Scott something to chase, but Staveleys number ten was adjudged to be in an
offside position just as he was about to put the Trojans in front.
As you would expect
with it all to play for the visitors looked sharper all afternoon and their
best player on the day Aaron Joseph sent another cross into the Staveley box
but this time there were players aiming to meet it and Aaron Moxom, went close
to adding to his 22 goals this season but he just couldn’t get the touch it
needed and Chris Butt collected comfortably.
After nineteen minutes Staveley had claims for a penalty
when a clearance from an Alex Pugh ball forward was spooned over his own
defence by Phil Lindley into the run of Kurtis Morley. Morley was through on
goal but being chased by Chris Kamara who stuck his leg between Morleys and
sent him sprawling to the floor inside the area. It’s questionable how much of
the ball Kamara actually got and it was from behind but to be fair to him
Morley didn’t make much of an appeal so play was waved on.
Ponte came forward again and on twenty seven minutes Mark
Whitehouse finally got on the end of one of Aaron Josephs crosses and he headed
the visitors into the lead nodding back across goal from the far post.
Staveley MW 0 – 1 Pontefract Collieries
Five minutes after the goal there were two more penalty
claims in the space of a minute firstly Ponte’s main man Aaron Joseph stumbled
under a challenge from Steve Carty and Greg Fitzpatrick but, to his credit
stayed on his feet to try and cross once more before tumbling and that honesty
probably made up the mind of the referee, and at the other end Greg
Fitzpatricks mazy run down the left, past Aaron Joseph and Chris Kamara was
finally halted by a “robust” challenge from David Burniston who didn’t get that
much of the ball if anything at all but a corner which came to nothing was
given.
HT:Staveley MW 0 – 1 Pontefract Collieries
After a shorter than usual half time break Kurtis Morley
with a run and low cross from the left which flashed across goal and Adam Scott
with a clipped cross from the same side which went just over the crossbar took
the game to the visitors as they began to defend deeper and deeper in an effort
to protect the lead that would take their relegation battle to their very last
game (having had what would have been their penultimate encounter postponed
because of power failure brought on by some mindless vandalism at their home
ground).
It was far from one
way traffic however and a Mark Whitehouse free kick eventually fell at the feet
of Phil Lindley who powered a volley towards goal that Chris Butt needed all of
his considerable expertise to palm away.
He was called on again to dive to his left to stop a low
Jack Manson cross that’s was only cleared out to Aaron Moxam on the edge of the
box to strike.
Ten minutes from the end Kurtis Morley chased a long ball
forward and won a fifty fifty challenge with visiting goalkeeper Liam Corbett
who was way out his goal. With the ‘keeper stranded Morley got to his feet and
tried to curl it into the open net from 20 yards but perhaps with one eye on
the covering defenders put too much on it and it went agonisingly wide of the
far post. And that was as close as the Trojans came to an equaliser and results
elsewhere mean that Pontefract took the relegation fight to the final game.
FT:Staveley MW 0 – 1 Pontefract Collieries
Attendance: 126
SMWFC:.1.Chris Butt.2.Nathan Jessop.3.Greg
Fitzpatrick.4.Alex Pugh.5.Richard Mintoft.6.Charlie Oglesby.7.Jack
Hutchinson.8.Steve Carty.(12.Matt Robinson)9.Lewis Naylor.(14.Mohammed
Tijani).11.Kurtis Morley.10.Adam Scott
Not used.15.George Johnson.16.Dan Fletcher.17.Jordan Hendley
