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Tuesday 7th September 2010
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Matches played Saturday 14th March 2009
It’s a day for important goals from the Thompsons and for AFC Hull to take the Division 1 title - barring a miracle.
Quaddy Rangers are running into form at the business end of the season, and while they are unlikely to be in a position to vie for the Amateur League Premier Division title, they may well have a major influence on the final outcome, while their continual good form at this stage of the season can only be of benefit to their League Cup aspirations.
Quaddy started their latest game against The Lair very well, displaying some great passing movements against a side who play in a similar pattern, and were well in control, and what seemed to be the inevitable happened when Quaddy went into the lead when a long throw from Rich Wilcox was meet by Danny Thompson at the front post and he knocked the ball into the net.
The game became something of a contest in the centre of the park, with neither goal seriously threatened, but as halftime approached a Quaddy attack was abruptly ended when the influential Danny Thompson, who orchestrates and fine tunes most of Quaddy’s moves, was unceremoniously bundled down from behind close to the corner flag – a position which seemed unlikely to pose much threat.
Mike Newdick strode up to take the free kick, and obviously thought differently, as he curled his set-piece directly into the far side of the net, with the Lair keeper John Watts unable to get anywhere near the ball through a crowded area.
The Lair started the second half well with some neat football but could not generally break through the Quaddy rearguard, but on a couple of occasions when they did make progress, Mark Foster in the Quaddy goal, was in his normal effervescent form and dealt with anything thrown at him.
It was from a Foster clearance that Quaddy made the game safe midway through the second half, when his huge kick upfield was headed on by Danny Thompson, into the path of brother Mike, who smashed the ball first time from the edge of the box into the net.
Paull Wanderers attention was turned from the league to League Junior Cup action, and finally, after several attempts, to face AFC Humber, in a game that they were probably favourites – by way of league status – to win.
The tie was not a cup classic due to the tension felt by both sides who did not want to miss out on a semi final place, but Paull managed to open the scoring early in the proceedings when Tommy Donnelly received the ball around 30 yards from goal and spotted the Humber keeper Adam Cawkwell off his line and lobbed the ball over his head into the net.
Paull worked hard to create a couple of other chances before some good all round team work brought their second success, when Danny Wilbor’s over-head effort was only kept out by an upright but Terry Thompson was on hand to hit in the rebound, confirming with two goals in the last two games, that his barren spell has ended and he is back on the goal trail.
A solid Paull rearguard allowed Humber just two shots on goal in the first half, both of which went well wide.
The second half saw Paull battling into windy conditions, with the Humber side piling forward - now with nothing to lose - and they came close when a shot hit the post, and this proved to be a pre-cursor to hitting the target, and getting back into the game, when centre forward Simon Brown again hit the ball goal wards - and onto the post - but this time the ball went in to the net.
The game now had a real cup feeling with 20 minutes left, and both teams had chances to score again but the scoreline remained unchanged, leaving the Paull team happy to make the last four in the cup for the first time.
If, as people say, patience is a virtue, then the players and supporters of The Duke of Wellington must have the patience of Job as these people have turned up week after week, to be beaten in every game.
Prior to the meeting this week in Division 1 with the highly placed Hessle Sporting Club, the expectation was that the run would go on as only a bare eleven were available for the fixture due to suspensions and work commitments.
The eleven who took the field started the game brightly, and passed the ball around well, until the Duke’s top scorer this season Kahn Fullard produced a moment of class when he volleyed his side into the lead.
The Hessle defence were in disarray at this point and a few minutes later Fullard doubled the lead after some great work by his striking partner Les Urry.
Hessle threatened after this, and scored a good goal through Polish ace Jakub Skiba, but the Duke responded in the best possible way, straight from the restart, when more good work by the lively Urry set Steve Usher free and he blasted in from twelve yards.
The Dukes then kept their lead intact for the remainder of the first half and went in very happy at the break.
In the second half, Hessle started very well and a neatly crafted goal was recorded by Nino Birtwhistle, but this sparked the Dukes into life again, and the score sheet was ticking over again when, from a corner, Josh Moss popped up with a towering, powerful header.
The scoring continued with a goal for Dukes from Lewis Smith, offset with a response for Hessle by Ian Jacobs, after which the Dukes defended well, with man of the match Karl Hopkinson in inspired form, but when the Dukes conceded a very dubious goal to Seb Kapkowski five minutes before the full time whistle, hanging on for their first victory of the season seemed to go on for an eternity.
After a flying start, Swiss Cottage consolidated their position of second in Division 1 with a fine 4 -1 win over Geoff Wednesday.
Swiss played against the wind in the first half and were one up after twenty minutes with some fine play down the right-hand side, which ended with Ben Bassett scoring his 25th goal of the season.
Geoff Wednesday did create some good chances but a well drilled Swiss defence kept them out, in particular, a great shot from a Geoff Wednesday striker which looked goal bound and only a brilliant save from man of the match, Swiss keeper, John Scott prevented the ball from hitting the back of the net.
With ten minutes of the first half remaining, some neat passing sent Shaun Scotthorne clear and he finished the move with a well-drilled shot into the bottom corner of the net to giving his side a two goal lead at the interval.
With the wind at their backs in the second half Swiss took the game once again to Geoff Wednesday and were rewarded with a finely placed header, into the top corner of the net, from Ben Bassett.
The Geoff Wednesday goalkeeper John Hawkes thwarted the Swiss forwards with some brilliant blocks, but, five minutes later, on the hour was helpless to stop a well taken goal from Shaun Scotthorne.
Geoff Wednesday, to their credit, refused to give up the fight and managed to get a consolation goal back via Secretary Joe Johnson in the last 10 minutes - a deserved reward for their efforts.
AFC Hull have long thought Anlaby Park to be a major rival in Division 1, and were concerned to be lacking the services of their two top scorers, Sam Nicholson and Tony Tummon for their trip to Costello Park, and plans to play last week's hat-trick scoring Rio Buckley up front were scuppered by a late injury to club captain Jamie Gascoigne.
Anlaby Park went into the match boasting the tightest defence in the division, but were facing the league leaders at a time when their form has dipped, and it took AFC Hull only twenty seconds to open the scoring. Stand-in captain Mark Friston setting up Dale Carty for his first of the afternoon from ten yards out.
AFC Hull adapted better to the windy conditions and used Alex Albrow's long throws to good effect, causing numerous problems for the Anlaby defenders.
After twenty minutes, the Anlaby Park goalkeeper misjudged a bouncing through-ball, caught by the wind, and Carty was able to double the visitor's advantage with a short-range header.
Seven minutes later, an Alex Albrow pass put Dale Carty one-on-one with the Anlaby Park goalkeeper and he completed his hat-trick in just twenty-seven minutes.
Ten minutes later, AFC Hull were awarded a free-kick twenty-five yards from goal when a defender was penalised for shirt-pulling. Scott Buckley swung his free-kick into the Anlaby Park box where it was flicked on by Nathan Nicol to an unmarked Rio Buckley who fired the ball into the back of the net.
On the stroke off half time, Anlaby Park threatened to pull a goal back, but an excellent tackle from Callum Harrison prevented the Anlaby striker from going clean through on goal, though the ball fell to the feet of another forward who struck a shot at goal only to be denied by the quick reflexes of AFC Hull goalkeeper Craig Lindley.
At half time Anlaby Park changed their goalkeeper, and within two minutes of the restart this potentially had paid dividends as Rio Buckley broke through the Anlaby defence and struck a vicious shot goalwards, but the fresh goalkeeper managed to tip the effort over the bar. Moments later, the keeper was in action again, this time tipping a Nathan Nicol shot wide of the post.
Anlaby Park tightened up their defence in the second half but still struggled to build up much attacking play, most of their efforts at goal coming from some distance and, in the blustery conditions, lacked accuracy.
Ten minutes into the second half, Jason Watson made way for Sean McFaul and on sixty-three minutes, McFaul found himself in space mid-way inside Anlaby Park's half and had a speculative shot at goal, which the keeper gathered up.
The game became a bit scrappy during the second half with the increasing wind disrupting both teams' passing. The hosts seemed happy to sit back and keep the score down, while the visitors, with the game seemingly won, lacked in concentration.
With just five minutes remaining, Dale Carty grabbed his fourth of the afternoon, running the ball past two defenders before shooting home.
This was Carty's last contribution to the match, as he was brought off to receive well-earned praise from the sidelines, being replaced by player / manager Ricky Jagger.
In the dying moments of the match, a McFaul pass found Rio Buckley on the edge of the box and Buckley's left-footed shot left the Anlaby Park 'keeper with no chance and wrapped up a very comfortable win, which, barring a goal scoring miracle secured the Division 1 title for AFC Hull.
After two good wins in the previous weeks, the Courts should have faced South Holderness in a bouyant mood, but with a squad missing three first choice players and several injuries picked up in the previous game they knew they would have there work cut out against very experienced opponents.
Playing into a strong wind in the first half, the Courts seemed to be holding out nicely and when a little extra help was needed, it came in the shape of the keeper David Coulson, who on several occasions pulled out top drawer saves to keep the game level through to half time.
As the second half got under way, the Courts should have found the game easier with the wind behind them, but found that this is not always the case, and with niggling injuries starting to tell and players struggling to keep up with the pace of the Holderness front men, they found themselves a goal down from a well worked move down the Holderness left.
Normally such a setback would spark the Courts team into life, but the side on this occasion very rarely managed to muster anything resembling a concerted attack even though Jamie Lamplough and Chris Jopling never stopped chasing.
The game was not long into the second half when the Courts fell two behind – keeper Coulson being given no chance - though he later managed to pull off more class saves but he could not stop Holderness bagging two more goals before the final whistle.
Scorers for South Holderness were Scott McBain, Ross Meggison (2), and substitute Matty Whitehead.
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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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