Ten Men Bears Complete The Double Over Hanley

Steve Foster’s first-half strike gave the Bears the lead, but a dramatic second-half started with third-placed Hanley scoring a penalty and Congleton captain Anthony Griffith seeing red.

Goals from Dec Fletcher and Mini Adegbenro sealed all three points for the Bears, as they showed no sign of rustiness after 10 days without a game.

There was little sign of the drama which would unfold in the second-half after an opening 45 minutes of limited chances.
Hanley’s Daniel Cope had the first sight of goal, but his dipping volley went just over the crossbar in the seventh minute.

Billy Hasler-Cregg caused Hanley problems down the right, but no Bears’ player was able to connect with his inviting cross from the right in the 16th minute. It was from the opposite flank where the Bears broke the deadlock, less than four minutes later.

Mini Adegbenro’s low shot from the left side of the box was parried by Hanley goalkeeper Michael Allen, but Steve Foster was on hand to fire home from close-range, with Dec Fletcher also waiting to add to his goal tally for the season.

Fletcher had an opportunity to double Congleton’s lead 10 minutes later after a swift counter attacking move from the Bears. Fletcher collected the ball inside Congleton’s half, before flicking the ball over a Hanley player and passing to Adegbenro.

Adegbenro played a through ball to Fletcher, who had run towards the box, but the Bears top scorer shot over the bar from just inside the area.

Josh Thorpe came the closest to equalising for the visitors as he headed wide from a Hanley corner, before the last chance of the first-half fell to Fletcher.

The Congleton striker was unable to keep his header down as he headed over the bar from Hasler-Cregg’s free-kick, as the Bears held a one-goal advantage at the break.

It was an explosive start to the second-half, which set the tone for the rest of the match. Adegbenro came within inches of doubling the Bears’ lead just two minutes after the restart, but he saw his shot go across the goalmouth and inches wide of the far post.

Just two minutes after nearly doubling their lead, Congleton found themselves level and down to 10 men after the ball struck Anthony Griffith’s arm in the area. The referee not only awarded Hanley a penalty, but he deemed the Bears captain had also denied a clear goalscoring opportunity and sent-off Griffith.

Hanley’s top goalscorer Daniel Cope made no mistake from the spot as he sent Danny Eccles the wrong way, firing his penalty into the top left corner. Just a minute later, Congleton nearly retook the lead, but the stretching leg of Fletcher was unable to connect with Hasler-Cregg’s cross at the back post.

The explosive start to the second-half started to boil over, with Tom Stephens and Hanley’s Cope, Michael Edwards and Josh Thorpe all entering the referee’s book in the space of two minutes.

All eyes were on the referee again, just moments later, after Dec Fletcher bundled the ball into the net after Hasler-Cregg’s shot hit the crossbar.

The Bears’ celebrations were muted momentarily as the referee consulted with his assistant referee, but after speaking to the linesman the goal was awarded to give Fletcher his 19th goal of the season.

Six minutes later and Congleton had the ball in the back of the net again, and this time there was no debate as the Bears capitalised on a goalkeeping mistake.

Michael Allen miss-kicked the ball as he came out of his area, and the ball fell to Adegbenro. The Bears striker showed great composure to roll the ball into the empty net from 30 yards, with enough power to stop Allen from preventing the goal as he ran back towards his net.

Despite having a man less, the Bears limited Hanley to only a few chances; the closest of which saw Mackenzie Faulkner’s glancing header sail wide of the right post from a free-kick.

Congleton substitute Liam Moran nearly added a fourth goal five minutes from time, but Allen produced an excellent save with his feet to stop Moran’s header.

The Bears held firm during the five minutes of added time to seal a brilliant victory and record back-to-back league wins for only the third time this season.

Bears XI: Eccles, Stephens, Disney, O’Reilly, Morris, Griffith, Hasler-Cregg, Edwards, Foster (Hibbert 69’), Fletcher (Moran 78’), Adegbenro.
Subs not used: Groom, Short, Ford
Attendance: 113

Reporter: Adam Bailey