Retford United U19 3 v Harworth CI U19 1 - Baris NMU19L Division 2

Wednesday 26th October 2011 at Cannon Park
Baris North Midlands U19 League Division 2

Retford United (2) 3
Sam Foulds 27, Bobby Johnson 33, Luke Marris 65
Harworth Colliery Institute (1) 1
Liam Ainger 44

Admission £2 inc programme, Attendance 45ish

Retford United
Lewis Brealey, Ashley Mitchell, Jordan Pickering, Luke Marris, Bradley Beresford, Gareth Davies, Alister Plant (Captain), Sam Foulds, Bobby Johnson, Harry Corr, Luke Walker.
Subs - Adam Ellis, Leighton Hall, Jack Radford

Harworth Colliery Institute
Tom Hogg, Liam Argyle, Luke Bailey, Jason Markell, Liam Smith, Tom Padgett (Captain), Callum Tiffany, Liam Ainger, Ryan Foster, Tom Sowden, Kurtis Cockburn.
Matt Smith, Jamie Royal, Christopher Leather

"I love it when we get a corner"

Phil Hall, Retford United U19 Asst. Manager

"I hate it when they get a corner!"

Glenn McPherson, Harworth CI U19 Manager

Prior to kick off, one of the regular clique who follow Harworth Under 19's commented that tonight's game would probably be a case of damage limitation for the visitors ... last season's fixture between these two sides had been a bit of a one sided going over for Harworth and just a month ago, Retford claimed all three points at Scrooby Road, by virtue of a 5-0 win, despite a much improved performance by the home side that night, who didn't help their own cause by missing several gilt edged chances.

United set off on the front foot, but a couple of half chances and a free kick on the edge of the box came to nothing.

Harworth were playing like they wanted to restore some local pride in this Bassetlaw derby tonight and didn't look to be in any mood to finish the game on the wrong end of a high score again ... even though the home side were obviously the favourites to win.

Callum Tiffany dropped his shoulder, feigned a dummy run in midfield and made himself room to play a precision pass into the path of Curtis Cockburn.

Cockburn's been playing very well since he was drafted in to fill the number 11 shirt for Harworth ... his run caught the Retford defence out, but the Badgers keeper Lewis Brealey stood his ground 'til late, got down well and saved the shot with his legs in a one on one situation.

Up until 27 minutes it had been a fairly even game, but then United stormed into a two goal lead inside the next 6 minutes.
Both goals came from right wing corners, Sam Foulds ceased on the first chance and Bobby Johnson the second.
If you're going to get caught out from dead ball situations, they're two of the last players in this league you'd want to be sniffing around when it's make or break time.

That top corner looks inviting and unguarded Liam

It would've been easy for Harworth to feel a bit bewildered and for a few heads to drop after the double set back, but they regained their composure and went looking for some redress before half time and their efforts were rewarded when Liam Ainger hooked a twenty yard free kick into the top corner of the Retford goal.
Half time - Retford 2 v Harworth 1

On 65 minutes United cemented their lead, from yet another corner, this time from out on the left.
Luke Marris got the final touch in a goalmouth scramble.
Harworth almost got a goal back ten minutes later, when Jason Markell's goal bound header was beyond the reach of Lewis Brealey, but Bradley Beresford was on hand to head the ball away to safety.
Retford soaked up the visitors efforts for the remainder of the game, whilst always looking threatening when they broke themselves.
Harworth played very well and can take a lot of heart from this performance, but they came unstuck from three corner kicks, the first two of which left them with a big hill to climb.
Retford Under 19's side have a spine of quality players throughout their team ... and they were just that little bit too strong for their visitors tonight.
All three finishes, as we've come to expect from this Retford side, were clinical.
Elsewhere in Bassetlaw tonight, news was filtering through that Worksop Town were beating Bradford Park Avenue in a FA Trophy replay, which will invoke a few memories of a couple of runs in that competition the Tigers had before their time in exile away from their home turf, for quite a few people who were actually at Cannon Park tonight instead of Sandy Lane ... funny how things work out sometimes isn't it!?
As in funny peculiar, rather than funny ha, ha.
Good luck in the next round Worksop Town :-)
FOOTNOTE: A few weeks ago Harworth CI U19 secretary Simon Stones was very poorly, but thankfully he seems to have made a full recovery and looks as fit as a fiddle again ... albeit one that needs a bit of a polish and a retune.
So anybody who was going to step in to help Simon out with his job at HCIFC U19's (or three billion other jobs he does for the Scrooby Road club) won't be doing now.
I'm really glad to see you looking so well mate :-)
And for clarification purposes - besides being a Mansfield Town supporter, Rob Waite also attends football matches at a variety of other clubs as a non affiliated neutral (but sometimes very slightly biased) onlooker, but he has no official ties to any of them at this present time.