Monday 31st October 2011, at Inkersall RoadBaris North Midlands U19 League Division 1
Staveley Miners Welfare (1) 4
Michael Cuckson 30, 54, Tom Colclough 65
Matthew Langley 85
Hallam (0) 0
Admission £2, Programme 50p, Attendance 70+
It's not even as though Hallam performed badly, but when Staveley Under 19's play the way they did in the second half, they are enticing to watch and all but impossible to beat.Tonight Matthew Langley controlled the midfield for Staveley at times, allowing Michael Cuckson the freedom to link up with the home side's attack and cause Hallam some real damage.
The visitors actually had the ball in the net first when Lewis Oxley scored from a corner, but Roger Evans, the linesman, didn't hesitate in raising his flag and the effort was ruled out.
Stirred into action, Staveley took the initiative and on 17 minutes Langley fired a shot over the Hallam crossbar after making himself space to collect the ball and shoot from a right wing corner.A few minutes later Lee Anthony looked as if he had put the home side ahead, but Daniel Costello in the visitors goal got down to pull off a fine save to his left, at the expense of a corner.
On 30 minutes Lee Anthony put in a measured cross from the right which was headed home by Michael Cuckson, the Hallam defence hooked the ball away after it had crossed the line, so Cuckson finished the chance off a second time just to be on the safe side.
Hallam had some very big and competitive players, but they were not overly physical ... however on 55 minutes Cuckson got into a goalscoring position again and the Blues were two in front.On 65 minutes Tom Colclough made no miostake with a great finish through a scrummage of players to increase Staveley's lead.
With five minutes remaining, the impressive Trystan Brown broke down the left and Matthew Langley, who had just been involved in breaking down a Hallam attack at the other end, popped up on the edge of the visitors area to claim a goal his man of the match performance deserved.
Full time came and despite a late flurry around the visitors box, the score remained 4-0 ... the same margin of victory Staveley had beaten Hallam by last month in a League Cup tie at Inkersall Road.
That's the 75 games (so far) milestone reached this season, although a lot of the matches I've seen have been played on familiar grounds, that I am a regular visitor to.But ... I'm definitely going to start varying my rota a bit more in the near future and be a bit more geographically adventurous.
However, Tuesday night (tomorrow) will definitely be a revisit.
I want to drive up to Fleetwood Town for the Stags FA Cup replay (winners to play Wycombe Wanderers at home), but I have a 4.30AM alarm call awaiting me on Wednesday and I want to be tucked up in bed before midnight. So it looks as though I will be at Frickley Athletic v Buxton instead, because that's just a quick run up the A1 from my home turf.
I would've passed the 80 game mark by now, but a bout of food poisoning after a late night post gig feast in down-town York last weekend, kind of restricted my movements for most of last week.
I'LL BE BACK!!!
