Retford United U19 1 v Matlock Town U19 3 NMU19L LC QF

Thursday 10th January 2013
at Cannon Park, AKA the Jones & Co Solicitors Stadium
North Midland U19 League, League Cup Quarter Final
RETFORD UNITED U19 (1) 1
Reece Thompson 18
MATLOCK TOWN U19 (1) 3
Tom Evans 7, Adam Clarke 55, Ben Harrison 73
Admission £2, Programme £1, Attendance 61

 

Don't be alarmed.

After a bit of a struggle, we managed to get that Ellis character back behind bars ;-)

Retford United:
Rory McCracken, Danny Snape, Jason Swannack, Brett Lucas, Alex Tottcomb, Kyle Dennett, Alex Colton, Jack Munn, Reece Thompson, Bobby Johnson, Adam Ellis.
Subs - Bradley Capstaicks, Matt Mitchell, Kyle Blow, Sam Hutchinson, Dec Bacon
Matlock Town:
Myles Wright, Jack Johnson, Sam Cavez, Adam Clarke, David Boden, Tom Evans, Ben Harrison, James Travis, Jordan Holland, Matt Wilkinson, Declan Jenkins
Subs - Josh Sears, Harry Westnedge

Almost straight from kick off, Retford suffered a big blow, when they lost Bobby Johnson, who looked to be quite seriously hurt.
His foot had stayed in the ground as he turned and while he was falling to the ground in agony a Matlock player had accidentally collided with him.
Bobby, who got some first team experience with Harworth last season, is making good progress in United's Baris NCEL side this season too, after a short spell at Winterton and the timing of the injury is a real shame for the lad.
I hope it's nowhere near as bad as it seemed to be when he was carried off.
Get well soon Bobby.

By the time the Badgers manger Rich Williams, had returned from the dressing room, attending to Johnson's needs, his side was already a goal behind, after Tom Evans had got onto the end of a square pass across the Retford area from Declan Jenkinn to knock the ball home from 10 yards out, after 7 minutes, while some of the Badgers team were still obviously shaken by what had happened to their team mate so early in the game.
Reece Thompson went out to look for an immediate reply for United, but a couple of finishes lacked the final killer touch he's renowned for, particularly one when Dec Bacon had picked him out with a right wing cross.
But Reeece will keep plugging away all night until he finds a way through and one 19 minutes, he ran a full 30 yards before looping the ball over Myles Wright in the Matlock goal from outside the area.
A minute later, Reece almost put Retford in front, but after Jack Munn had battled for the ball well to release Thompson, he shot wide of the target.
Reece also has a knack of unnerving opponents by staying tight on them and putting them under pressure and this led to errors by both Myles Wright and David Boden, but his team mates couldn't capitalise.
Retford's attack was sorely missing having Johnson playing off of Reece.

On 35 minutes, Brett Lucas, had a shot tipped over the bar by Wright.
Lucas looked impressive tonight as he charged around the pitch, puttinf the effort in, relishing wearing the captain's armband and trying to lead by example.
It looked like Retford had gone in front when Dec Bacon rose above everybody at the back stick, but powered his header wide of the mark, after a right wing corner had gone unchallenged for straight across the visitors six yard box.
Dec Bacon took a great pass from Adam Ellis and knocked the ball home, but he was flagged for being offside.
Hmm, I didn't think he was, but it isn't my opinion that counts.
As the teams left the pitch level at half time, I heard somebody from Matlock say, "Fair score, that was quite an even 45 minutes", but according to my tick sheet, the home side created 11 clear cut chances in the first half and Matlock created 2.
Draw your own conclusions.
HT - 1-1

Ten minutes after the restart, the night got even more miserable for United, when a left wing corner, provided the unmarked Adam Clarke with the simplest of headers next to the right hand post, to put Matlock 2-1 in front.
The defence were all at sea and possibly all at fault too, but if their strike force could've put a few more final touches to a plethora of first half defences, the Badgers would've had a commanding lead by now anyway.
Thompson released Lucas down the wing, but the Matlock defence closed ranks to clear his cross.
On the hour, Declan Jenkins latched onto a clearance from his own half and after letting the ball bounce just once, let rip with a shot from distance that was narrowly wide of the goal.
It was a let off for Retford.

United tried to switch things around, but a new front pairing of Reece Thompson and Sam Hutchinson, struggled to make any in roads against what looked like a 6 man defence that Matlock were employing, while absorbing a lot of pressure and waiting to hit Retford, on the counter attack.
That attack came on 73 minutes, when an over hit cross was played back across the face of Retford's goal, to where Ben Harrison squeezed the ball home to score Matlock's third
Sam Hutchinson started to create a few chances from out on the right wing as the home side forced a succession of corners.
Dec Bacon sent Hutchinson charging down the wing and his cross to Reece Thompson reached its intended target, but the Badgers striker narrowly failed to put the ball home,

With Alex Colton and Hutchinson slinging the ball into the Matlock area, time after time, an anguished cry of "How the **** is this still 3-1 to them!" was heard to come from the home side's bench, as attack after attack, came to nothing.
Even the Badgers goalkeeper was up for set pieces now.
But Matlock valiantly held on to their two goal lead right until the final whistle, when they celebrated as if they had just won the FA Cup.
Matlock had won, by virtue of scoring from approx. 50% of the chances they had created, but Retford had contributed heavily to their own downfall too, by having such a mind-blowing ratio of chances created against just a solitary goal scored.
I don't suppose the man marking for all three of Matlock's goals would've helped matters either.
With hindsight, the defeat might actually do Retford some good, because they're flying in the league table at present and they can put this result right, by concentrating on staying in the mix for the title race.
I've seen this Badgers team often enough this season, to know that they're better than they played tonight ... much better in fact.

Forthcoming games:

Saturday 12th January, 

Thorne Colliery v Harworth Colliery, CMFL North

Wednesday 16th January, 

Harworth Colliery U19 v  Dunkirk U19, NMU19L Div 2