Convincing Clee in Rossington Main rout

CLEETHORPES Town sent a strong message to other Baris Northern Counties East League Division One sides by beating Rossington Main 5-1 in their latest pre-season friendly at the Linden Homes Club.

Lee Stephenson opened the scoring for the Owls before Tim Lowe and Luke Mascall put the Owls in charge at half-time.

Rossington pulled a goal back but Ricky Belding and Darren Hanslip added gloss to the result in the final period of the game.

Cleethorpes started the game with ex-Grimsby Borough striker Lee Stephenson as a lone striker and the frontman had the ball in the net early on but the goal was ruled out for offside.

After 15 minutes Stephenson was in the thick of the action again, charging down the opposition goalkeeper's kick. The deflection looked to be heading into the back of the net but the goalkeeper recovered to scoop the ball to safety.

The breakthrough came one minute later. Jonathan Oglesby's pinpoint cross picked out Stephenson at the far post. The striker showed great technique to volley low back across goal and put the Owls a goal up.

Ten minutes later, the lead was doubled in bizarre circumstances. Every player on the pitch, apart from Owls right back Tim Lowe, seemed to be under the impression that the referee had awarded a foul on the halfway line.

The confusion allowed Lowe to sidestep his way through the Rossington defence and side-foot in.

Rossington, who finished 7th in the Baris Northern Counties East League Division One last season, were being outplayed by the Owls in the opening half.

Last season's top scorer Luke Mascall was looking bright and, after dangling a tantalising delivery across the face of goal, got on the scoresheet himself before half-time.

After his first two shots had been blocked, Mascall drove the ball through a crowd of defender to increase the gap between the teams to three goals.

Rossington's resistance improved in the second half and the visitors began to cause Andy Liddle's men a few more problems, pulling a goal back on the hour mark with a fine drilled shot into the top right hand corner of the net from the edge of the box.

Clee responded though, with former Grimsby Town youngster Danny Freeman and Ricky Belding both coming close to adding to the goal tally.

The fourth goal came with ten minutes to play. Belding rounded the goalkeeper thirty yards away from goal before composing himself to bend the ball in from a tough angle.

Captain Darren Hanslip rounded off a fine victory for Clee when he slotted home confidently to finish off an excellent team move which involved Renzie Lobendhan, Freeman and Belding.

With the reserve team also picking up a convincing win over Rossington Main's reserve side by eight goals to one, it was a successful day for the Owls who continue their pre-season campaign against Dunkirk at the Linden Homes Club next Saturday.