North Midland U19 League Division 2
Maltby Main U19 (0) 0
Harworth Colliery Institute U19 (0) 2
Connor Gresham 60, Enzo Guarini 82
Admission £2 inc. programme
Not quite sure why, but this is the view you get when walking
to pitch from the Muglet Lane dressing room.
Thomas Oakley, Ryan Davies, Wilson Pipes, Joss Bryan, Ricky Tate, Mason Oliver, Daniel Wilkinson, Jack Booth, Ryan Hall, Rafael Sebastino, Luke Bridgeman
Subs - Lewis Balasz, Karl Crowley, Rob Mackintosh, Lee Trigg
Harworth Colliery Institute:
Tom Hogg, Jordan Hardman, Luke Bailey, Chris Higgins, Gareth Bonner, Jordan Nortcliffe, Mitchell Lax, Callum Tifanny, Lewis Francis, Enzo Guarini, Matt Smith
Subs - Reece Kemp, Lewis Elwood, Tom Sowden, Connor Gresham, Mitchell Rubie
The big guns of European football were in action tonight: Barcelona v Spartak Moscow, Bayern Munich v Valencia, Chelsea v Juventus, Crap 5th placed SPL side v Benfica, Manchester United v Galatasary and the biggest game of them all, at Muglet Lane, Maltby, the South Yorkshire v North Nottinghamshire local derby, between the respective Under 19 teams of Maltby Main and Harworth Colliery Institute.
The final score, doesn't even tell half the story of how dominant the away were tonight.
But I fastidiously noted down each and every incident in meticulous detail and hereby present the most long winded match overview ever in the entire history of blogging.
Harworth laid siege to the Maltby goal for the first 45 minutes, during which, Tom Hogg, the Harworth keeper, was virtually a spectator, it beggared belief that the score was still 0-0 at half time.
The Main defence were under threat from the off, the inevitable Harworth breakthrough seemed to have come after ten minutes, when Tom Oakley in the Maltby goal, upended Matt Smith as he took the ball round him and conceded a penalty.
Smith picked himself up and took the spot kick himself, but he didn't get enough power behind the ball and Oakley got down and held onto it.
Within a minute Harworth were back on the attack though, when Mitchell Lax put Lewis Francis through on goal, but he clipped his shot narrowly wide of the right hand post.
Matt Smith, evidently suffering from fatigue bought on by illness, soldiered on and muscled his way around the Maltby right back Ryan Davies, before stroking the ball across the area, into the path of Enzo Guarini, who flicked the ball over the crossbar from six yards out, when it looked odds on that he was going to score.
Tom Hogg made easy work of catching a wasted 25 yard free kick and normal service was resumed after a very brief interlude and the visitors were on the attack again.
This time it was Callum Tiffany's turn to drill the ball narrowly wide ... the Maltby goal seemingly had some kind of forcefield around it tonight.
Smith once more, dissected the Main defence with a killer pass to Guarini, but the Harworth number ten miss-hit the final ball and Oakley was fortunate that it struck his ankle and deflected wide for a corner.
Mitchell Lax, who along with the two Jordan's, Nortcliffe and Hardman, was getting some great balls into the danger zone, found Matt Smith, who made a yard of space for himself and knocked the ball agonisingly wide again.
Enzo Guarini out on the left hand side of the box, unselfishly opted to loft a weighted pass to Lewis Francis who's thumping header was goal-bound all the way, but Tom Oakley managed to grasp the ball out of the air and made a last ditch save.
Harworth's relentless attacking and passing football was a joy to watch, but there is always the omnipresent danger in situations like this, that goals win games, not percentages and if the team in the ascendancy isn't making their advantage count, then they are always just one counter attack away from having all that hard work and endeavour undone by a breakaway goal.
The longer that Maltby hung on to a clean sheet, by the skin of their teeth, the more Harworth's attacking forays became frantic and rushed.
They needed a breakthrough ASAP to steady their nerves and those of Glenn and Has on the bench who were going through the whole range of emotions with each and every chance that went begging.
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| FFS! |
All the neat, precision passing stuff was amounting to nothing, but a quick route one raid, saw Tom Hogg's lengthy up-field ball, flicked on by Matt Smith into the path of Lewis Francis and this time, surely, Maltby's rearguard had finally been breached now, but err ... no! Francis drilled the ball low, hard and on target, this time Oakley didn't so much save the ball, as wander into the path of Lewis's got and get hit by it instead and Maltby were let off yet again..
Callum Tiffany, battled through two tackles in midfield and knocked the ball into the box, where it sat up perfectly for Matt Smith 20 yards from goal. He struck the ball sweetly, beating Tom Oakley and his defenders all ends up, but it flew narrowly wide of the target and crashed against the perimeter wall as Maltby's goal continued to live a charmed life.
The half time whistle sounded and all the talk in the ground was about how on earth it was still nil-nil, even one or two of the Maltby players parents were saying that Harworth could've had the game won already.
It was never my intention to write so much about one half of a game ever, but I wanted to demonstrate just how hard Harworth had grafted and kept up the non stop tempo before the interval.
Even Matt Smith, who was visibly feeling the effects of a bug put in 110%, it all bodes very well for the Scrooby Road side as the season starts to pick up some momentum, after the set back of an opening day defeat to Ollerton Town.
I lost count of how many chances Harworth created in the first half, but Hasan Hussein, their Assistant Manager reckoned he'd counted fifteen. However he does have more fingers than most of us to count with.
Half time 0-0
The groundsman removed the kitchen sinks from the goalmouth Maltby had been defending and the second half got under way at a slightly more sedate pace.
Enzo Guarini made the first forward run, but Ricky Tate cleared the danger and Maltby actually started to make a few inroads into Harworth territory themselves, without actually causing Tom Hogg any real problems.
On 53 minutes, Harworth made a double switch, when Matt Smith and Callum Tiffany, who had both run themselves into the ground, came off and were replaced by Lewis Elwood and Connor Gresham.
The fresh legs made a telling difference. On the hour mark, Jordan Hardman played the ball down the right flank to release Enzo Guarini on a run, his cross to the back stick found Connor Gresham, who fired Harworth in front. Finally, all of their efforts so far and been rewarded and there was a huge sigh of relief from the visitors bench.
With the deadlock now broken, the miss from Mitchell Lax, from just a couple of feet out, a minute after Harworth had scored, didn't seem half as frustrating as it would've done with the game balanced at 0-0.
Maltby mounted an attack and Ryan Hall got his head on to the end of a right wing corner, but Tom Hogg dealt with it.
Jordan Hardman played Connor Gresham through on goal, but at the last moment the ball bounced unkindly and he was only able to scuff his shot wide. Eager to impress, Connor had a few long range efforts on goal, but fell victim to the same 'near miss syndrome' that most of his team mates had been struck down with already tonight.
On 75 minutes Rubie Mitchell replaced Lewis Francis up front. Maltby must've glad to see the back of one of their main tormentors, but were soon to discover that Rubie offers even more potent striking options and is yet another great find the Harworth management team have unearthed this season.
The visitors knew that Maltby would now have to push out to chase the game, leaving themselves short of cover at the back and patiently absorbed the home sides attempts to push forward, while waiting patiently for the chance to hit them on the break.
Tom Hogg punched a dangerous looking Jack Booth cross clear to safety and the visitors were on the move again.
Mitchell Lax dropped a perfectly weighted pass into to path of Enzo Guarini, who knocked the ball over Tom Oakley, advancing from his line, to give Harworth a two goal lead and some breathing space on 82 minutes.
A Maltby Main comeback never looked likely, however a one goal cushion is never really comfortable until the final whistle sounds, but they were completely finished now.
In the closing minutes Lewis Elwood and Enzo Guarini, both hit a goalpost apiece and Harworth had to be content with three points and a plus two goal difference, when, in truth, the margin of victory should have been much bigger.
Basford United -v- Maltby Main
Matlock Town -v- Dunkirk FC
Harworth Colliery Institute -v- Retford United
Staveley Miners Welfare -v- Worksop Town
Handsworth FC -v- Sheffield Club
Sandiacre Town -v- Ollerton Town
Southwell City -v- Carlton Town Academy
West Bridgford Colts -v- Hallam FC
All matches to be played during the week commencing Monday October 8th.
