Yorkshire Main 0 v Newark Town 1 - Baris CMFL League Cup

Wednesday 22nd February 2012, at Edlington Lane
Baris CMFL League Cup 3rd Round
Yorkshire Main (0) 0
Newark Town (0) 1 - Simon Greenfield 75
Admission £3 inc. programme, Attendance 37
Yorkshire Main:
Scully, Cairns, Tracey, Sharpe, Jarvis (capt), Grayson, Turner, Evans, Hinsley, Cooper, Dart
Subs - Bryant, Osbourne, Sides
Newark Town:
Attwood, Paling, Ellison, Wilson (capt), Greenfield, Lloyd, Hillier, Roche, Swingler, Ginelly, Wilford
Subs - Brookes, Townsley, McDonald
There was very little to choose between these two sides tonight, in this CMFL North v South, League Cup tie tonight.
Yorkshire Main won this competition last season, but they relinquished their grip on their hard won spoils in this nip and tuck encounter, much to the delight of the cluster of Newark supporters who had travelled north up the A1, to the veritable football hot bed of Edlington, in South Yorkshire
The referee didn't seem to endear himself to anybody from either club over the course of 90 minutes.
From where I was stood, it looked as though he had let a few things go early in the game.
But rather than aiding the flow of the game, his plan backfired, setting a precedent that just got everybody's back up.
Ironically, if he'd adopted a more rigorous stance early on, instead of trying the softly, softly approach, it would probably have been a more open and entertaining game.
Oh well, we're all wise with the benefit of hindsight.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't, n' all that.
I certainly wouldn't want to be a ref.
Especially in the Central Midlands League.
In the event of a draw after 90 minutes, there would be no extra time played tonight, the game would have gone to a replay at Newark Town's ground in Collingham.
And for a long while, it did look as if a goalless draw was on the cards and it would take another game to separate these two evenly matched teams.
It was a very tight game, with no quarter given.
A few half chances came and went for both sides, with Newark Town probably just about shading the percentages.

Typically, it was while the home side were having their best spell of the game, that Newark broke the deadlock, when Ian Hillier, by my reckoning the man of the match, found Martin Wilson with a defence splitting pass on the right hand side of the area, who knocked the ball into the path of Simon Greenfield, for him to thread a precision shot through the crowded box to beat Liam Scully.
Hillier had worked tirelessly all night, giving the Newark Town front-line good service from the right flank.
Yorkshire Main's Leon Osbourne looked lively and dangerous up front after coming on in place of Brad Grayson with twenty minutes remaining, but Newark held out and progressed through to the fourth round.