North Midland Under 19 League, Division 1
Staveley Miners Welfare U19 (2) 2
James Whitfield 13, Ryan Walters 26
Pinxton (1) 1
Watson Charlesworth 15
Admission £2, Programme 50p
Many thanks to Barry R Dyke for the video footage, Ele Reaney, the pivotal driving force that keeps Staveley Miners Welfare FC functioning (who deserves to have every Sunday off and a generous clothing allowance too), for the team details and hospitality ... and to her assistant Terry Damms for getting the kettle on ;-)
Much appreciated.
San West, Brad Jones, Ben Goodwin, Lewis Haywood, Liam Broadly, Sam Finlaw, Simon Marsden, Pat Lindley, Ryan Walter, Jacob Smith
Subs - Oliver Byne, Ryan Capuano, Kurtis Morley, Ryan Bates, Jake Johnson
Pinxton FC
Brady Parker, Kieran Gregory, Josh Hoult, Greg Marriott, Louis Warwick, Watson Charlesworth, Cameron Short, James Green, Jack Warwick, James Barry, James Curry
Subs - Jordan Coupe, Lee Fazakerley, Ben Faulder, Aaron Daly
Tonight, Pinxton didn't exactly travel to Inkersall Road with the intention of spoiling the game, with a physical and overly defensive approach, as one on looker stood close to me had suggested.
But, they did use a game plan that cramped Staveley's free moving and quick passing style, which limited the home sides attacking options and contained them into a crowded midfield area, for long spells.
You could say, that if it hadn't been for a couple of woeful finishes from the visitors front line, they could've almost have squeezed three points out of tonight's encounter.
Given their reputation for playing attacking football, this young Staveley side are going to come up against such stubborn rearguard actions from time to time, and it's probably good for their development, that as an addition to the night's when their games feature all out, non stop attacking football, they also have have to dig in, stay focussed and concentrate right until the final whistle to grind out results from time to time.
And tonight that is exactly what they did.
Jacob Smith had the first chance of the night, but the Pinxton keeper, Brady Parker, was quickly off his line to block Smith's route to goal, inside the first five minutes.
It was evident that this resilient Pinxton side were going to be a tough nut to crack and it took a touch of ingenuity from Sam Finlaw to unlock the visitors defence, when his perfectly weighted defence splitting pass, found James Whitfield homing in on the visitors goal and Staveley were ahead on 13 minutes.
But Pinxton mounted a counter attack almost immediately and were back on level terms when the visitors captain, Watson Charlesworthy, poked the ball home in the middle of a scramble in the home side's six yard box.
Ryan Walters scores Staveley's 2nd goal
A Pat Lindley through ball found the lively James Whitfield inside the Pinxton area, the Staveley striker kept his shot down and aimed low and hard, but Brady Parker got down quickly and held onto the ball.
At the other end, Brad Jones and Jack Warwick tangled in the Staveley penalty area, Warwick went down looking for a penalty, but the referee was unconvinced ... and so was I!
Pinxton's defence made a bit of a mess of clearing their lines and the ball fell to Ryan Walters, who ran through a flat footed back four and fired the home side back in front on 26 minutes.
The visitors were nearly level again shortly afterwards, but James Barry somehow headed over the crossbar, with the goal at his mercy.
Brady Parker had to adopt a sweeper-keeper role twice, late in the first half, when he charged out of his box to clear his defence's lines for them, while they were keeping a tight line further up the pitch across the back of the congested midfield.
Right on the stroke of half time, Pinxton should've been level, but Jack Warwick snatched at an 'unmissable' effort and blazed over from 3 yards out.
Half time - Staveley MW 2 v Pinxton 1
 OMG! They'll pin any old rubbish up on the walls at Staveley. |
The second half was a real stop/start affair, as the visitors upped the stakes with their 'compression game' tactics and occasionally hard hitting tackles. Most of the time it was 'firm but fair' but a few of the challenges were borderline to say the least.
Sam Finlaw was unceremoniously flattened, but got up to take the free kick himself, which found James Whitfield inside the Pinxton six yard box, but he headed the ball over the bar.
A Pinxton corner caused a few anxious moments inside the Staveley goalmouth, but Jake Johnson cleared the danger.
Kurtis Morley broke through into the Pinxton area and was just lining up to shoot when the referee blew up for a free kick to Staveley, instead of allowing them to play the advantage. It was one of several curious decisions made by the officials tonight. Sam Finlaw took the resultant free kick but put it over the crossbar.
The visitors were now doing their level best to keep Staveley away from their goal, while looking to hit them with a sucker punch, late break.
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| Me and my shadow! |
As the game went into injury time, Pinxton launched a late counter attack. Their tactics, especially in the second half, hadn't been pretty to watch for the most part, but if they were to have scored now, then it could be argued that they had won a point through their sheer dogged determination and had actually played a canny game ... however, this time it was James Curry's turn to miss an absolute sitter and the win and the three points were Staveley's.
Next up: Tuesday Night, Central League action: Mansfield Town v Bradford City, at Field Mill/One Call Stadium, 7pm kick off.
