Tuesday 8th December 2009. Northern Counties East League Premier Division.Welfare Ground, Church Street, Armthorpe
Armthorpe Welfare (2) 3 (Bruno Holden 30, Liam Hardy 35, Henry Sibenge 67)
Shirebrook Town (0) 1 (Simon Johnson 50)
Admission £5, Programme £1, Attendance 47
Boys and girls go out to play. "That linesman! She's not a bloke!"There's nowt gets past the observant locals round here, is there?
Shirebrook started the game with a depleted line up. When we arrived fifteen minutes before kick off, one of their travelling party was saying that they had a centre forward who was still twenty miles away and other players were missing due to work commitments too. Hardly the ideal preparation for a visit to an in form Armthorpe side who were looking to leapfrog the seaside teams, Bridlington and Scarborough, to go second in the table tonight.
Armthorpe's keeper tries to un-nerve the opposition beforekick off by demonstrating his prowess at doing the splits.
Both teams took a while to get going on a wet and blustery night, however slowly but surely Armthorpe got a grip of the midfield and started to take the the game to their lowly placed visitors.
It was only a matter of time before they were going to breach Shirebrook's rearguard.
On the half hour mark following some frantic activity in the penalty area, Bruno Holden smashed the ball home from the right hand edge of the six yard box, it was an unstoppable shot.
A Shirebrook Town supporting friend who was sat us uttered "Tsk! That was against the run of play!"
A less biased witness responded to that with "Neither side have had a sniff on goal for half an hour"
One of them was 100% correct.
It was only a matter of time before they were going to breach Shirebrook's rearguard.
On the half hour mark following some frantic activity in the penalty area, Bruno Holden smashed the ball home from the right hand edge of the six yard box, it was an unstoppable shot.
A Shirebrook Town supporting friend who was sat us uttered "Tsk! That was against the run of play!"
A less biased witness responded to that with "Neither side have had a sniff on goal for half an hour"
One of them was 100% correct.
Goal number two for Welfare came 5 minutes later, when Liam Hardy drove home from the left hand edge of the six yard box."Hmm, I'm not sure about all this rain, they might need to call this one off" joked the 'Shirebrook Massive'.
It did seem by now that abandonment of the game might be Shirebrook's only hope of avoiding defeat.
But the pitch was taking the downpour well and calling the game off never looked like an option.
It did seem by now that abandonment of the game might be Shirebrook's only hope of avoiding defeat.
But the pitch was taking the downpour well and calling the game off never looked like an option.
HT 2-0
Five minutes into the second half, Shirebrook's number 9 Simon Johnson ran onto the ball just inside the home team's half and charged towards the goal, he slotted home a slide rule shot past the Armthorpe keeper from just outside the box, halving the deficit and giving his side a glimmer of hope.
It was a score line that had barely looked imaginable when the teams went in at the break.
Though 'Wellie' continued to dominate the game, while there was only a single goal in it Shirebrook weren't out of it yet and were always likely to hit their promotion chasing hosts on the counter attack.
On 67 minutes, Henry Sibenge, head and shoulders the most gifted player on the pitch, danced round the visitors defence and fired home a third and decisive goal.
From then on in Armthorpe turned the screw on Shirebrook's defence without actually finding the final touch again to finish off their lion's share of possession ... it was a case of damage limitation from then on in for the visitors.
And at 3-1 Shirebrook had got off lightly in the end. Whatever our travelling companion of the STFC persuasion might have said in the car on the way home ;-)
It was a score line that had barely looked imaginable when the teams went in at the break.
Though 'Wellie' continued to dominate the game, while there was only a single goal in it Shirebrook weren't out of it yet and were always likely to hit their promotion chasing hosts on the counter attack.
On 67 minutes, Henry Sibenge, head and shoulders the most gifted player on the pitch, danced round the visitors defence and fired home a third and decisive goal.
From then on in Armthorpe turned the screw on Shirebrook's defence without actually finding the final touch again to finish off their lion's share of possession ... it was a case of damage limitation from then on in for the visitors.
And at 3-1 Shirebrook had got off lightly in the end. Whatever our travelling companion of the STFC persuasion might have said in the car on the way home ;-)
Armthorpe Welfare FC. Football for the Netto's generation.
