Weirside Rangers 0 Nottsborough 2
SAL Division 1
10th October 2009

Report from Nottsborough FC Website.

The Nottsborough team had a good dressing room chat about how things were going this season. The result was a very impressive first 30 minutes in which they went 2-0 up and this was enough to secure the points. The return of SAL Representative strikers Nick Stavri and Alex Ewin probably also had something to do with it. Stavri has started only a handful of games in the last 11 months whilst Ewin has not started a game for 6 months. Both men featured prominently in the first 20 minutes but naturally faded somewhat over the 90 minutes.

The three match officials failed to materialise so Ref Richard Melvin took sole charge of this game. The playing surface at Imber Court was firm but the recent rain had helped and fortunately the strong winds of the previous week had gone. Weirside looked lively in the early moments but Nottsborough started to get on top with wide players Nathan Violet and Matt Negus showing up well. Nottsborough took the lead on 10 minutes when bright play down the right involving Negus and Ben Hickes won a free kick wide out on the right level with the edge of the area. Violet’s in-swinger was beautifully placed and Matt Kerr flicked the ball on for Alex Ewin to run the ball into the net. A nice way for the striker to celebrate his return from injury.

During the first 30 minutes Nottsborough looked very threatening and created a number of chances. Nottsborough increased their lead on 20 minutes when a confident solo run by Violet saw him break through the middle and time his pass to Chris Kerr to perfection. Kerr was clean through on the keeper and he literally slid his shot into the bottom right hand corner. In no particular order, but all in that first half hour, Ewin blasted a volley high and wide, whilst a Negus screamer narrowly missed the right hand upright. Following two separate corners Arren Sutcliffe had a shot blocked and his centre back partner Rich Parker repeated the feat minutes later. From a good move down the left, involving the impressive Howson and Violet, Matt Kerr volleyed over the bar on what was a difficult volley beyond the far post.

Weirside got themselves back into the game by continuing to try and play the ball around and their midfield 5 were lively and quite inventive when they got the space. For Nottsborough the two Kerr brothers were having to work very hard to close down Weirside’s middle 3. Nottsborough started to give away free kicks and Weirside came much more into the game before half time although Sutcliffe and Parker dealt comfortably with most things, whilst Ashley in goal calmly patrolled his area.

As is often the case the second half was a different story. Weirside got their act together and started to make a real game of it. They definitely had the balance of play for most of this half although the chances they created were limited and largely came from set plays. Their influential centre back headed narrowly wide from one of these on 55 minutes. Ashley had to go down to save a free kick that, although mishit, was bobbling towards the goal through a crowd of players. Weirside’s best chance came when a good attack down the right produced a cut-back and the chance was volleyed high. Although there were more free kicks and corners conceded, the impressive Parker and Sutcliffe mostly dealt with these although Ashley did come for one good punch injuring Parker in the process.

Nottsborough made changes early in the second half bringing on Craig Bonser for Ben Hickes and Mark Shadbolt for Dave Howson. Not much later Nick Green replaced Matt Negus. It makes such a difference having a strong bench. Nottsborough were under pressure before these changes were made and all three players did well and settled into the game as it moved into the final quarter. Although still under pressure Nottsborough created the best two chances of this half and Weirside have their keeper to thank for keeping the score to two. An intricate passing move starting with Shadbolt, who did well down the left, ended with Stavri hitting a clean shot across the keeper. The ball was definitely going inside the right hand post until the home keeper at full stretch got a fingertip to it tipping it around the post. A superb save! Minutes later Violet tried to take on the home defence on his own and the result was a firm shot through a crowd of players. The Weirside keeper again did well going to his left to make a smart save at the expense of a corner.

There was to be no further score although ref Richard Melvin kept on awarding free kicks and corners to Weirside, even when there was no touch. The man in the middle had a good game overall, keeping up with play well, and being reluctant to hand out cards. Oh for the three officials though.

This was better from Nottsborough although the league may well be harder to win this season. Broomfield and Poly have had a good start, and Nottsborough are not yet back to their best. Nevertheless they only had three points at this stage last season. The squad if anything looks stronger but there has to be more consistency in availability before the team play returns to last season’s standard.

Ashley; Hickes, Parker, Sutcliffe, Howson; Negus, Kerr C, Kerr M, Violet; Ewin, Stavri; Subs Bonser, Shadbolt, Green.

Man of the Match could really have been Chris Kerr for the sheer energy of his performance and a very well taken goal (he really should score more often). I have decided against it on the grounds of free kicks conceded which probably got into double figures - he has a nice smile refs. My award goes this week to Arren Sutcliffe – three games and three clean sheets.

Pictured: Rob Sullivan - Weirside's MOM

Weirside Team: Taylor, Mullarkey (Costello 55), Farrar, Rogers, Jones, Lambert, Sullivan, Ashdown, Goodier, Moore (Eyafe 55), Yates (S Griffith 80)

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