Ambers win on the road

The Ambers turned in a professional performance to defeat Thackley 3-0 ....

A fog shrouded Dennyfields awaited The Ambers with an unusually out of sorts Thackley providing the opposition, albeit they had turned a series of draws into a win last time out at Goole. With injuries ruling out Jake Currie and Brad Nicholson, there were recalls for Jed Phillips and Ryan Carroll as The Ambers looked to build on last week’s victory over Knaresborough.
Handsworth started strongly, playing some attractive football, and home keeper Wilson had to be on his toes to tip away a Phillips chip as it headed for the top corner. The keeper was then forced into another save when he kept out a fierce Ollie Fearon drive, Carroll’s follow up being blocked by a defender, before the striker was on hand to divert a Josh Davies shot into the corner of the net to set The Ambers on their way to three points.
Ollie Yates almost doubled the lead minutes later when he arrived undetected at the back post to meet a Jamie Green cross, but he lifted the difficult chance over the bar. The home side created their first half chance immediately afterwards after some good build up play down the right, but Sibanda lost his footing as he prepared to shoot and the ball was cleared.
Carroll then had a header saved before Jan Budtz was called into action, pouncing on a loose ball in his six yard box after Robinson’s shot came through a ruck of players. Alex Rippon then raced through at the other end, but after rounding Wilson, covering defender White managed to effect a clearance.
As half time approached, the game had become more even with the home side seeing plenty of the ball but without penetrating too deeply, and on the stroke of half time, the lead was doubled when a long throw into the Thackley box fell kindly at the feet of Waide Fairhurst who lashed home his first Ambers goal.
Fearon was replaced at the break by Danny Deakin, and Rippon by Tom Claisse shortly after, as The Ambers looked to secure the points, and Deakin was soon heavily involved, firstly by taking a quick free kick which caught Thackley napping, but Wilson was equal to Fairhurst’s decent strike, and then providing a pinpoint cross which Phillips struck home to complete the scoring after 64 minutes.
With the points secured, The Ambers took their foot off the pedal and allowed the hosts to have more of the ball, but aside from a couple of wayward strikes, it never really amounted to much despite looking attractive to the eye in parts.
Joe Thornton made his second debut as a late sub for the tiring Carroll, and The Ambers saw out the game comfortably to record successive wins and clean sheets.