|
|
Saturday 4th September 2010
|
|
Matches played Saturday 26th January 2008
Paull return to winning ways, beating the weather and Hull Grass Roots - but it's a close thing.
The early postponement of all Hull City Council Parks football pitches as the rains continued in the first half of last week prevented the anticipated resumption of the Amateur League football season, but when the miserable weather relented as the week progressed and strong winds started to dry out the grounds, it started to look as though the decision to postpone may have been premature, but though the pitches dried out to a degree, the improvement was too little and too late, as confirmed when matches on other sites belatedly joined the list of casualties, but, hopefully the benefit of protecting the pitches now, will become evident over the remainder of the season.
One of the few sites reported as close to playable was Paull Wanderers pitch at The Foreshore, where only a little work was required in removing a small amount of standing water in the goalmouths to make it playable, and the re-arrangement of a Division 1 game between Paull and Hull Grass Roots was hastily concluded.
Paull Wanderers were keen to resume action, as recent results have seem the team go into free fall following eight successive game without a win, while Grass Roots were happy to concede home advantage to get a game played.
The opening phase of the game was very open with Grass Roots creating good chances that tested Paull keeper Mike Lowde and provided his last line of defenders with plenty of work to keep the score line blank.
Midway through the half, Paull began to warm to the game, moving the ball around nicely, and in 35th minute a lovely pass by Karl Smith set up Terry Thompson with only Roots’ keeper Danny Bell to beat, and usually the prolific Thompson would have rounded off the move, but on this occasion he finished second best to Bell, and at the break neither side had managed to end the stalemate.
The second half followed the pattern of the first with Grass Roots again creating chances, until the Wanderers stepped up their endeavours and played some nice one-touch football, and in 53rd minute the ball ended up with Karl Smith, some 15 yards from goal, and he beat a defender, turned, and rammed the ball home.
The remainder of the half must have seemed like an eternity for Paull as they hung onto the lead, and with half chances being created at both ends, numerous goals could have resulted, but good goalkeeping determined that no further goals were recorded and Paull were relieved to collect three much needed points, and narrowly return to winning ways.
A little way down the road at Preston, the pitch at Sandhill Country Park also received the go-ahead and heavy conditions prevailed underfoot, but Premier Division AFC Preston and Intrasource Mainbrace did their best to maintain their usual attractive, attacking styles.
Preston suffered a couple of early scares, but were able to call on the reliable Rob Wilkinson in goal to avert the danger and, after finding their feet, opened the scoring when a superb deep cross by Dan Richardson from the left wing, brought a glorious and rare headed goal from Simon Kew.
Encouraged by their success, Preston pushed on straight from the restart, and an almost identical cross, this time from Matt Howard, who was enjoying the free role he had been given, saw Simon Kew again knock the ball into the back of the net, this time with his right foot.
Intrasource rallied their troops and created a couple of good chances, but progress against Preston’s newly formed defensive partnership of Rich Howard and Ian Mullins proved difficult.
Continued pressure from Preston brought further reward when the impressive Matt Howard scored the goal his first half performance deserved.
A few stern words at half time to his charges by the Intrasource manager saw a much more determined side resume for the second half, although some early tackles which were made, appeared a little excitable, causing some minor friction as they went unpunished by the referee.
Preston channelled their frustration well, and pressed forward and Simon Kew complete his well-deserved hat trick.
The second half also saw Preston introduce Gareth Maskell, a talented player, who, but due to work commitments, is unable to play every week. However, he took little time to get into the game, offering something different going forward, and he left an indelible mark on the game when he rounded off the scoring and an excellent move with a great strike.
All credit to Instrasource who never gave up right until the end, and played a full part in a good game, which was enjoyed by all. Preston are starting to show the form and producing the results that their football deserves, and are hoping that a few similar results will catapult the side up the league ladder.
Only one other game escaped the clutches of the weather, and that necessitated a venue switch, and South Holderness were pleased to have conceded home advantage as their trip into Hull to face Hull Athletic provided a chance to resume action, and then produced a three point haul with an acceptable 3-1 win.
Billy Hurst, Ross Meggison and Scott Simons found the net for South Holderness, while Dave Smith replied for Hull Athletic.
|
|
Match Reports
|
24th April 2010
17th April 2010
10th April 2010
3rd April 2010
|
Personalise
|
Personalise
this website to feature the division which you're most interested
in.
|
|
