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Tuesday 7th September 2010
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Matches played Saturday 18th October 2008
Cup win to set Preston on a roll??
Last weekend’s matches in the Amateur League saw most team’s attention turn to the League Cup competitions, and though a couple of sides face difficult second leg matches in the Senior Cup, their deficits are recoverable, and an intriguing second phase of games is awaited, while the Junior Cup, which is played on a straight knockout basis, the competition produced plentiful goal action, but generally narrow match margins.
AFC Preston have been playing some good football during the season, but they have failed to hit upon a winning formula, and having already been eliminated from two cup competitions, were desperate to finally find success in the League Senior competition.
The early passages of play against Quaddy Rangers showed that the game would be a good footballing encounter, but Preston were dismayed when Quaddy broke the deadlock early in the first half after an uncharacteristic error in home defence allowed Simon Start to capitalise with a superb strike.
However, Preston put the setback behind them and continued to play some neat football, and got back into the game following a quality move which saw Quaddy’s Mike Newdick make what he believed was a good tackle inside the box, on Simon Kew, who stumbled, but retained his footing. The referee saw the incident differently and ruled that it was a foul challenge and awarded a penalty and Kew stepped up and slotted the ball home.
Preston continued to apply pressure and had the ball in the net again just on the stroke of half time, but this time the referee had stopped play to award a free kick when maybe playing advantage would have favoured Preston.
Preston came out for the second period in a good strong mood and succeeded in breaking the Quaddy offside trap on several occasions, but each time were thwarted by excellent goal keeping of Mark Foster, or wayward finishing!
In the dying minutes of the game, the Quaddy trap failed when Paul Fenton did not move up with the back line, and Mike Wardell was able to carry on and made no mistake, slipping the ball home to turn the tie in Preston’s favour but with definitely all to play for in the second leg in a month’s time.
The clash between Pinefleet Wolfreton and The Lair, was a game between two of the early pacesetters in the Premier Division, and both were keen to take an advantage into the 2nd leg.
The Lair started the brighter, and had a lot of the early possession but without really creating a clear-cut chance and it took Pinefleet some twenty minutes to get into their stride, but when they did, they scored from their first attack, when Dave Laycock released Dave Fee, who drove home from an acute angle.
This gave Pinefleet a solid foothold in the game and they started to enjoy the lion’s share of possession, but, as with Pinefleet’s goal, against the run of play, Lair equalised when a speculative shot from Liam Khan from long range found the top corner of the net. Both teams then cancelled each other out before the break and went in level.
The second half saw the game pattern remain end to end, with both teams having periods on top, and The Lair went into the lead when Shaun Hunter kept his head to score as Pinefleet, who had pushed out, vehemently disputed the goal.
If, as they believed, an injustice had occurred, the effect was to kick start them into life and they equalised almost immediately when Laycock lashed the ball home from eight yards.
Laycock added his second when Gareth Monkman picked him out with an inch perfect pass and he raced clear, to finish with ease.
Pinefleet introduced Andy Waller into the fray, from the bench, and he was soon back among the goals, as Laycock released him to race clear and he finished well.
Pinefleet were now in control and they nearly added a fifth from a Sam Mountain header, but Lair keeper Mike Hamlett pulled off a miraculous save, and Lair then had the last word as Rob Hunter pulled a goal back with minutes to go - keeping the tie on a knife edge.
Eddie Beedle warmed up for their forthcoming second tilt in the Yorkshire Old Boys’ Shield, with a confidence boosting win over Raine FC.
Steven Drinkall’s 25th minute equaliser for Raine cancelled out an early Craig Copley goal for Beedle, but Copley restored Beedle’s lead as the break approached.
The scores remained tight for most of the second half, but in the last 10 minutes of the action, Beedle scored crucial additional goals, from Matty Carr (80) and Danny Boxhall (85), making the second game possibly more of a formality.
In the Junior Cup, Goodwin FC’s victory against Willerby Holiday Homes was a family affair with two sets of brothers scoring all of Goodwin’s goals in a 5-3 success.
Willerby opened the scoring through James Harvey, but Goodwin soon responded with an excellent low shot from Steve Hall.
Rob Stacey added a second before brother Trevor got in on the act, controlling an excellent diagonal cross from Leon Salter before drilling the ball into the top corner of the net from distance.
Willerby pulled a goal back, again through Harvey, to see the teams go into half time at 3-2.
In the second half it was again a Stacey on the scoresheet, Rob Stacey scoring his second goal, but this was followed by a stunning 40 yard half volley response from Willerby’s James Harvey as he completed his hat-trick. It seems as though now Hull City’s Giovanni has shown the way, everyone is demonstrating their ability to score with spectacular shots – this one would surely have been a rival for goal of the month!!
Willerby’s cause was made almost impossible when defender Richard Suddards was shown a red card following his disagreement with a refereeing decision, and Ricky Hall then took advantage of a stretched defence to finish off the brother’s rampage to make the final score 5-3.
Geoff Wednesday believe that they have found another bogey team in Anlaby Park.
The teams have met on two occasions this season, and this Junior cup tie followed the pattern of the first encounter, with Wednesday all over their opponents, but unable to score!
Disaster struck in the second half when a 30 yard free kick by Anlaby Park moved in the air as keeper John Hawkes went to punch it and he was unable to stop the ball going into the net.
A second goal was conceded when Wednesday were caught stretched in defence as caution was thrown to the wind and players were pushed forward in search of an equaliser.
Hull Athletic’s game with AFC Malt Shovel, which was played in a good spirit and allowed to flow by referee Adam Ward, could have gone either way, and was resolved late in the game following a good move between Matt Campbell and Mike Nagi, which resulted in Nagi slotting home the decisive goal.
All the Junior Cup games were first round games, bar one, which was between Hessle Sporting Club and Skippers FC, who received byes but were paired to meet in the second round. The game turned out to be very much a game of fluctuating fortunes, as Skippers, who have yet to concede a league goal yet, continued their clinical finishing and went three goals up.
A blocked clearance by Seb Kapkowski turned into a goal when it ricocheted into the net, but still at 3-1, Hessle faced a difficult second half, and the wind.
net, but still at 3-1, Hessle faced a difficult second half, and the wind.
At Hessle, you never say never, and goals from Shaun Welsh, a second from Kapkowski, and two from substitute Dave Ostler, pulled the game around, but two further goals were also conceded, resulting in the need for a penalty shoot out.
A penalty miss in the first half of the game by Hessle, whilst the scoreline was blank gave an foretaste of Hessle’s penalty technique (or lack of it), and it came as no surprise that after the titanic fight back, the shoot out was lost and Skippers claimed the right to play in the next round.
What a difference a week makes. Last week Paull Wanderers knocked AFC Preston 2nd out of the ERCFA Qualifying Cup, and this week, with no alternative games available, the Division 1 league fixture paired the teams together again.
Preston therefore, travelled to Paull looking for revenge, but did not start too well and Paull created a couple of early chances, but failed to finish them off.
Preston’s first scoring opportunity was taken, after which, Paull pegged them in their own half, but without troubling keeper Malcolm Parker. The second goal of the game was expected to be crucial, and after the half time break, it fell to Paull, being set up by Terry Thompson for Michael Ward – reminiscent of a week previous.
What followed, however, was somewhat different as Preston took the game to Paull and regained the lead, and the upper hand, with a disputed goal and then went on to score three more without response, one taking a wicked deflection which left keeper Liam Smith with no chance.
After a lean opening to the season, Preston’s hot shot striker Ricky McNee regained his touch to record a hat-trick, compounding Paull’s poor start to their league campaign.
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Match Reports
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24th April 2010
17th April 2010
10th April 2010
3rd April 2010
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