Post by Kev Panther on Aug 19, 2013 18:09:06 GMT
IT JUST WASN’T SKELMERSDALE’S DAY
RUSHALL OLYMPIC 1 SKELMERSDALE UNITED 0
By Neil Leatherbarrow
There are days in football when you are somehow destined to not succeed, there are days in football when you are under the cosh and are still destined to win, unfortunately on Saturday, Skelmersdale United suffered the former and Rushall the latter.
Visiting Rushall’s Dales Lane ground on the outskirts of Walsall for the very first time, Tommy Lawson’s side dominated the first-half and with any kind of luck might had four goals in the bag before the hosts struck the only goal of the day from a counterattack via a perfectly legitimate but manufactured penalty moments before half-time.
The contrast in styles between the teams was obvious from the very first minutes of the match. Skelmersdale getting the ball down onto the floor and playing it around the hosts, while Rushall relied on a method that was far more industrial and made six foot three striker Dele Adebola the fulcrum of most of their attacking moves.
Skelmersdale started well, spreading the ball from wing to wing. Gary Burnett almost connected with a cross in the 8th minute. Then in the 16th minute after winning a challenge with home goalkeeper Lewis Solley the young striker was presented with “a chance” that was bizarre. Having won the ball from a central defender, Burnett broke through a block tackle with Solley, but the ball went at least fifty feet into the air, where it swirled all over the place before dropping some five yards from an empty goal. Although, Burnett was under the ball but it was almost impossible to say where it would come down and the chance was gone.
Solley went on to win the Man of the Match award from the home support and he earned it in the next half-hour or so.
In the 19th minute a sweeping move from right to left put the ball to Joe Holt’s feet entering the penalty area from an angle, his driven effort was palmed away to safety by Solley. Two minutes later Matty Hughes had a shot saved at the near-post then after Hughes had “nutmegged” home captain Gavin Caines, Alan Burton was denied by Solley’s legs.
In the 37th minute a push on Holt failed to bring about a penalty despite Skelmersdale protests, before in a rare attack Skelmersdale goalkeeper Zac Hibbert saved from a header.
Ashley Dunn fired over the home crossbar in the 40th minute, then after a cynical foul on Holt, Solley made a spectacular tip over the crossbar from Kenny Strickland’s free-kick.
In the 43rd minute the game changed. A long ball over the top caught Skelmersdale out, Tom Hardwick went in pursuit of home forward Dave Walker, Hardwick was encouraged to tackle, Walker went down and a penalty was awarded. Caines stepped up and beat Hibbert to make it 1-0.
Even after going a goal up, Solley still retained the home hero hat as the whistle was awaited for the interval, as off a Kevin Leadbetter free-kick Dale Wright made him pull a magnificent reaction save when an instant equaliser looked certain.
The second-half was a different story. Skelmersdale had to commit more men forward as a result Rushall looked more dangerous because Adebola got more room.
In the 54th minute Tom Eckersley clipped the top of the Skelmersdale crossbar with a header, but it was never going in as Hibbert was under it all the way. Hughes had a shot saved lowdown by Solley after 57 minutes and in the latter stages Leadbetter played further forward for Skelmersdale. The nearest to a goal was a loud appeal for handball in the Rushall goalmouth after Holt fired the ball into the box, but referee Mr Cooke wasn’t in the mood for sharing the penalties out.
Skelmersdale had by far the vast majority of the possession in the first-half and it was more down to Olympic goalkeeper Solley than anything else that they didn’t score. In the second-half, Rushall made sure that Skelmersdale were not going to get an equaliser by defending deep and playing an early long ball tactic that kept Skelmersdale from getting too much pressure onto them. As one Skem fan said after the game; “We will play a lot worse than that and win.” He was right.
RUSHALL OLYMPIC: Solley, Haynes, Wood, Eckersley, Daniel, Caines ©, Palmer (Bottomer, 60), Downes, Walker (Mugisha, 87), Adebola (Obeng, 90), Craddock Subs (not used) Spink, Ravenhill
SKELMERSDALE UNITED: Hibbert, Strickland, Leadbetter, Hardwick ©, Wylie, Wright (Simpson, 78), Holt, Burton, Hughes, Burnett (Luby, 68), Dunn Subs (not used) McKinty, Slater, McIntosh
Referee: B. Cooke
Attendance: 178
RUSHALL OLYMPIC 1 SKELMERSDALE UNITED 0
By Neil Leatherbarrow
There are days in football when you are somehow destined to not succeed, there are days in football when you are under the cosh and are still destined to win, unfortunately on Saturday, Skelmersdale United suffered the former and Rushall the latter.
Visiting Rushall’s Dales Lane ground on the outskirts of Walsall for the very first time, Tommy Lawson’s side dominated the first-half and with any kind of luck might had four goals in the bag before the hosts struck the only goal of the day from a counterattack via a perfectly legitimate but manufactured penalty moments before half-time.
The contrast in styles between the teams was obvious from the very first minutes of the match. Skelmersdale getting the ball down onto the floor and playing it around the hosts, while Rushall relied on a method that was far more industrial and made six foot three striker Dele Adebola the fulcrum of most of their attacking moves.
Skelmersdale started well, spreading the ball from wing to wing. Gary Burnett almost connected with a cross in the 8th minute. Then in the 16th minute after winning a challenge with home goalkeeper Lewis Solley the young striker was presented with “a chance” that was bizarre. Having won the ball from a central defender, Burnett broke through a block tackle with Solley, but the ball went at least fifty feet into the air, where it swirled all over the place before dropping some five yards from an empty goal. Although, Burnett was under the ball but it was almost impossible to say where it would come down and the chance was gone.
Solley went on to win the Man of the Match award from the home support and he earned it in the next half-hour or so.
In the 19th minute a sweeping move from right to left put the ball to Joe Holt’s feet entering the penalty area from an angle, his driven effort was palmed away to safety by Solley. Two minutes later Matty Hughes had a shot saved at the near-post then after Hughes had “nutmegged” home captain Gavin Caines, Alan Burton was denied by Solley’s legs.
In the 37th minute a push on Holt failed to bring about a penalty despite Skelmersdale protests, before in a rare attack Skelmersdale goalkeeper Zac Hibbert saved from a header.
Ashley Dunn fired over the home crossbar in the 40th minute, then after a cynical foul on Holt, Solley made a spectacular tip over the crossbar from Kenny Strickland’s free-kick.
In the 43rd minute the game changed. A long ball over the top caught Skelmersdale out, Tom Hardwick went in pursuit of home forward Dave Walker, Hardwick was encouraged to tackle, Walker went down and a penalty was awarded. Caines stepped up and beat Hibbert to make it 1-0.
Even after going a goal up, Solley still retained the home hero hat as the whistle was awaited for the interval, as off a Kevin Leadbetter free-kick Dale Wright made him pull a magnificent reaction save when an instant equaliser looked certain.
The second-half was a different story. Skelmersdale had to commit more men forward as a result Rushall looked more dangerous because Adebola got more room.
In the 54th minute Tom Eckersley clipped the top of the Skelmersdale crossbar with a header, but it was never going in as Hibbert was under it all the way. Hughes had a shot saved lowdown by Solley after 57 minutes and in the latter stages Leadbetter played further forward for Skelmersdale. The nearest to a goal was a loud appeal for handball in the Rushall goalmouth after Holt fired the ball into the box, but referee Mr Cooke wasn’t in the mood for sharing the penalties out.
Skelmersdale had by far the vast majority of the possession in the first-half and it was more down to Olympic goalkeeper Solley than anything else that they didn’t score. In the second-half, Rushall made sure that Skelmersdale were not going to get an equaliser by defending deep and playing an early long ball tactic that kept Skelmersdale from getting too much pressure onto them. As one Skem fan said after the game; “We will play a lot worse than that and win.” He was right.
RUSHALL OLYMPIC: Solley, Haynes, Wood, Eckersley, Daniel, Caines ©, Palmer (Bottomer, 60), Downes, Walker (Mugisha, 87), Adebola (Obeng, 90), Craddock Subs (not used) Spink, Ravenhill
SKELMERSDALE UNITED: Hibbert, Strickland, Leadbetter, Hardwick ©, Wylie, Wright (Simpson, 78), Holt, Burton, Hughes, Burnett (Luby, 68), Dunn Subs (not used) McKinty, Slater, McIntosh
Referee: B. Cooke
Attendance: 178