Road see off 10 man Congleton to claim first three points of the season.

On Monday night we welcomed Congleton to Brantingham Road. The Bears arrived full of confidence as they had won their opening two games of the season.

MAINE ROAD 2 CONGLETON 1 MASON, WILLIAMS CAREY

Road see off 10 man Congleton to claim first three points of the season.

On Monday night we welcomed Congleton to Brantingham Road. The Bears arrived full of confidence as they had won their opening two games of the season. They had a number of former Mainer Road players in their line-up. Andrew Jones, Martin Hill, Rick Peters, Omar Mbowe and Maine Roads all time leading goalscorer Neil Chappell.
Despite the first defeat of the season away to Runcorn Town the Blues had reason to be optimistic. In that defeat we dominated large parts of the game and on reflection we really should have taken something if not all three points. There was one change to the starting line-up as Lee McGregor came in for his first appearance of the season as he replaced Jack Blundell.
The opening 45 minutes were played at a frantic pace as both teams passed and probed to create a number of opportunities. It was the Blues who had the first chance of the game as Jack Langford found Rick Williams down the left, his ball into the box found Jamie Roe who struck the ball goal wards. However, his shot was always dragging wide of the goal. The game was even in the opening exchanges. Congleton were moving the ball across the pitch well and a quick ball out to their right wing found their winger in space. He picked out a great ball into the box and Jason Carey leaped well at the back post, fortunately for the Blues his header was always rising and it went over the bar. A minute later Congleton had their next chance of the game as a ball flashed across the box which missed their forwards outstretched foot by inches.
Both teams had clearly come for the win as both teams were throwing large numbers of men forward when attacking , it was an end to end game with some great passages of play. However, the last pass or finish from both teams was missing. Congleton epitomised this as some good link-up play down their right wing found their forward in an advanced position and his ball in found his team mate, he connected well with his header but he missed the target.
The Blues had the next chance of the game. Poxon, Jamie and Connor linked up well down the right and flurry of shots were blocked by the Congleton defence, one clearing the ball off the line.and the ball landed to James Ormrod on the edge of the box who dragged his shot wide.
As the half was drawing to a close Congleton caught the blues on the counter-attack, with them racing away and having good numbers in attack it was great to see Matthew Morgan track back a full 50 yards to cover his team-mate, first he delayed their attack and then intercepted a pass to regain possession. It was only a small part of the game but it was good to see Morgy getting himself fully-fit following a stop start pre-season. The half-time whistle went and Congleton had slightly shaded the the half.
Both teams came out with the intention of attacking and it was the Blues who started to to stamp their authority on the game. We only had to wait a few minutes of the re-start for the first chance of the game and it was the best opportunity of the game. In the centre of the pitch James Ormrod played a fantastic defence splitting pass to Rick who took his first touch into the box, he found himself one v one with the former Road number 1, as Rick steadied himself he took another touch which got caught under his feet. as a result his shot wasn’t as good as expected and he blazed the chance over. It was a poor finish from such a calm finisher. With Road now dominating the game it was Rick who again had the next chance. From the left hand side of the box Rick shot goal wards but dragged it wide. James Ormrod had a shot from distance which was easily saved by the keeper. Neil Chappell had a similar effort from distance which Ryan smothered. The pace of the blues attack was continuing to cause problems for the Congleton defence. This time it was Morgy who went racing away, hIs big touch took him past the defender on the left wing. He found himself by the touch line and pulled the ball back with his left foot to Rick Williams. Rick was being pulled back by the Bears defender but still managed to get his shot away, he couldn’t make great connection with the shot and the keeper saved well with his feet. It seemed to be dual with these two and at the minute the Congleton keeper was coming out on top. With the Blues having the majority of possession and chances in the second-half the Bears had a rare foray into the Blues half. Some neat play on the edge of the box found their forward with a shot most likely a last ditch tackle made contact with the Congleton forward, this prompted the referee to point to the spot. Jason Carey took the spot-kick and fired the ball high in to the roof of the net. Congleton were now starting to have more of a say in the game as they were starting to get better territory. The introduction of their midfielder seemed to give them some quality on the ball as they were keeping it better. As Congleton were starting to get themselves higher up the pitch the Blues caught them out with a ball over the top. Rick raced away and was bearing down on goal with Omar Mbowe chasing him. Omar pulled Rick back and the linesman flagged for a foul, after a brief discussion with the linesman the referee sent Omar off and the Blues sensed a comeback was on. From the resulting free-kick Connor whipped a great ball goal wards. It appeared to be heading goal wards but again Jones dived low to deny the Blues an equaliser. From the resulting free-kick Connors driven corner found John Mason at the back-post, who leapt above the Congleton defenders and his header hit the underside of the bar and went in. It was what the Blues deserved for their efforts and they could sense there was more to come Right from the re-start we continued to pass the ball quickly and when the ball fell to Jack Langford Rick came to life and made a run across the defenders. Jack played an excellent through ball that was inch perfect, Rick finally got the better of the Congleton keeper has his first touch took it round him and he knocked the ball into the empty net. Congleton then started to press for the equaliser and had a number of free-kicks that were dealt with well by Ryan and the defence. The final whistle soon blew and the game was won.
It was a great win against a team who have aspirations of challenging at the top end of the season this season. It’s three positive performances so far this season which is promising going into the FA Cup tie away at Abbey Hey at weekend.
LIVESEY, POXON, INNISS, McGREGOR, MASON, ORMROD, LANGFORD, MORGAN, ROE, HUGHES, WILLIAMS SUBS O`BRIEN, KEYWORTH, BLUNDELL, BURGESS, WILLIAMS D.