at the Recreation Ground, Bircotes, DN11 8JT
CMFL NORTH
Harworth Colliery (0) 2
Lee Edmondson 53
Ryan Paczkowski 85
Glapwell (1) 2
Adam Seward 39
James Woodward (OG) 54
Admission £3, Programme £1, Attendance 43
Mark Latham, Jordan Hardman, Simon Brewster (Matt Smith), James Woodward (C), Jonny Bownes, Gaz Sides (Lewis Hilton), Dean Bonser, Gregg Archer, Tom Walker, Ryan Paczkowski, Lee Edmondson (Gary Page).
Unused Subs - Makenzie Tomlinson, Steve Wibberley (GK)
Glapwell:
Ryan Hopkins, Andrei Pykett, Tim Grundy, Rob Holland, Sean Gardner, Jake Wharton, Adam Barratt, Ross Murcott (C), Geoffrey Gouveia (Ashley Ruse), Adam Seward (Toby Birch), Jack Weaver
Unused Subs - Ainsley Finney, Craig Humphreys, Cameron Lunn
With Tom Pick missing up front, through injury, and Chris Belshaw still unfit, Brendan Wilson had to chop and change things and a couple of his team needed to play out of position tonight.
I think that under the circumstances, i.e. Glapwell looked all set to leave Bircotes tonight with their third win of the season under their belts, that this result should be seen as a point won, late in the day by the home side, rather than two points lost.
It was good to see a few Lincoln City, Maltby Main and Worksop Town fans had made the trip across to Scrooby Road to see if Harworth could produce the kind of form that has seen them win five games in a row, but alas, although the unbeaten run continues ahead of Saturday's short trip to Bentley Colliery, this wasn't the most convincing of performances at times.
For long spells, the game became a bit of a scrappy midfield battle, that desperately needed a goal or two to liven things up.
If intrigue and a chess like battle for midfield are your thing, then 'the Rec' was the place to be tonight, but aesthetically pleasing, eye catching football for the purists, was in very short supply for the majority of the ninety minutes.
Harworth almost took the lead inside the first minute, but Ryan Paczkowski couldn't quite keep his footing when he was clean through on goal, with just Ryan Hopkins, the Glapwell keeper (a product of the Mansfield Town youth academy) to beat. 'Patch' had only got off of the plane earlier today, from a lads holiday in Ibiza, so he did well to find the burst of pace to get into that position in the first place.
Adam Barratt hit a snap shot from long range, that Mark Latham did well to hang onto ... and a few minutes later, the visitors came close again when Geoffrey Gouveia's free kick nestled in Latham's arms, via both the crossbar and the left hand upright.
Tom Walker showed his marker a clean pair of heels as he charged clear down the left wing, but his cross took an awkward bounce in front of Paczkowski and the usually reliable attacking midfielder couldn't direct his effort on target.
With half time looming and the stalemate yet to be broken, 'Patch' swung an inviting cross in the Glapwell area from out on the right flank, that picked out Gregg Archer at the back stick, but though his header across the face of goal beat Hopkins and his defence all ends up, it went wide of the right stick.
Glapwell delivered a sucker punch, just before the break, when Jack Weaver knocked a great ball through the right channel for Adam Seward to run onto and despite Latham narrowing the angle, the visitors number 10 marked his debut, by striking the ball sweetly into the back of the net.
Half time - Harworth Colliery 0 v Glapwell 1
Within a minute the visitors were ahead again, when amidst a monumental defensive mix up in the Harworth area, James Woodward headed the ball into his own net. There was nothing Mark Latham could've done to prevent the goal seeing that he had been accidentally impeded by his own teammate.
43 year old Gary Page, came close to levelling things up again from a left wing Paczkowski corner, but Hopkins snatched the ball off of his head at the last moment. Page had entered the fray when Lee Edmondson had to go off after pulling up in pain with what appeared to be an hamstring strain ... get well soon Eddy
Harworth were now chasing the game, but Glapwell were putting up a resilient rearguard action to preserve their lead.
Not because he wasn't playing well ... but with time running out, the Harworth management team, had decided to bolster the attack with Matt Smith and go three at the back.
As match changing tactical switches go, it worked very well.
Dean Bonser was unlucky to see his shot deflected wide for a corner and then Archer headed the ball narrowly wide from Paczkowski's flag kick.
Glapwell rode their luck a bit in the later exchanges, but it was fairly obvious that they are a better team than their current league position suggests.
Lewis Hilton, back from his three match suspension tonight, came on for the last twenty minutes and made a vital contribution to the game near the end, when he stroked a measured pass into the path of 'Raz Patch' inside the last five minutes, that the man who had turned as orange as his kit on his 'fun in the sun' break this week, knocked into the goal from close range via a slight deflection.
Full time - Harworth Colliery 2 v Glapwell 2
Harworth are away at Bentley Colliery on Saturday, while Glapwell travel to Forest Town on Friday night to take on AFC Mansfield.
