Ollerton Town 4 v Easington United 2 - CMFL North

Saturday 12th December 2015
Central Midlands League (North)
At Walesby Lane, Ollerton
Ollerton Town (1) 4
Chris Hewitt 18 pen, Danny Wiltshire 54,
James Foster 60, Kyle Ludlow 90+
Easington United (1) 2
Mark Hutchinson 25, Paul Wilkinson 88
Admission £3. Programme £1

Ollerton Town:
Simon Haynes, Jordan O'Callaghan, Rob Evans ( Mitchell 54), Jordan Schofield, Eddie Bishop, Sam Stretton, James Foster, Kyle Clarkson, Kyle Ludlow, Danny Wiltshire (Sam Bailey 64), Chris Hewitt (Jamie Charlton 66)
Easington United:
Charlie Holden, Craig Havercroft, Anthony Barnett, Karl Fitzpatrick, Chris Tasker (Jamie Houlton 53), Luke Taylor, Alex Dickinson (Luke Brumhead 58), Kris Fitzpatrick, Mark Hutchinson, Danny Barron (Paul Wilkinson 67), Danny Conman

"We're definitely ON!!!" exclaimed the Ollerton Town twitter feed confidently, "Ha ha, I bet you bloody well are!!!" I thought, as my submersible automobile circumnavigated the deep puddles that were rapidly forming and threatening to take over the back roads between Walesby and Boughton.

Games in nearby Clipstone, Forest Town, Rainworth and Retford had all failed the 'squelch test' today, but, good to their word, upon my arrival at 'the Lane' ten minutes before kick off, both teams were out warming up on the grassy areas surrounding the pitch within Ollertons ground... and the playing surface looked absolutely immaculate, this game was definitely going ahead. 

Ollerton started the game on the front foot and the lively Kyle Ludlow needed some close attention from Easington's defence to prevent him scoring twice during the early exchanges
On 18 minutes, the match referee Daniel Smith was just deliberating over whether one of the visiting team had just handled the ball inside the penalty area, when Ludlow was upended by Luke Taylor, making the decision to award a spot kick a fairly academic one.
Charlie Holden dived to his left, but Chris Hewitt planted the ball into the opposite corner, to put the home side ahead.
Dave Winter's side had chalked up five wins in a row all competitions prior to their midweek loss on penalties, against their close neighbours, NCEL Premier Division side Clipstone FC in the Notts Senior Cup.

Having taken the lead, the Town followers were no doubt expecting more of the same from their in form team, but the goal had a galvanising effect on the visitors and Easington began to put a few promising looking attacks together for themselves.
Danny Barron played the ball into the six yard box and Simon Haynes did well to block Danny Conman's close range shot and Mark Hutchinson was well placed to knock the rebound past the unfortunate Ollerton keeper.
Eddie Bishop almost put Town back in front shortly afterwards, but he planted his header over the bar.
James Hewitt threatened the 'Eastenders' goal shortly afterwards too, but Holden was equal to his effort.
With the clock ticking down to half time, it looked as though Easington were going into the break on top, when Anthony Barnett crashed a thundering shot that was destined to bulge the net, but Haynes pulled of a brilliant save, to turn the ball on to the woodwork.
HT: Ollerton Town 1 v Easington United 1

The sky turned from mucky grey to jet black and the already persistent rain took a turn for the worse as the teams came out for the second half.
The half time score had reflected how an evenly matched first half had gone. Likewise the final result just about summed up the home side's second half dominance.
Danny Wiltshire stormed towards the visitors goal and drilled an unstoppable shot past Holden, to restore Ollerton's lead nine minutes after the restart and on the hour Kyle Clarkson set up James Foster who picked his spot with precision from 12 yards.
Town were on a roll now and Andy Graham's side were having to withstand a lot of pressure as Ollerton pushed forward, looking to kill the game off.

Ludlow beat Holden all ends up, but his effort struck the upright and Easington were still (more or less) still in it, even though they were hanging on by a slender thread by now.
But, with two minutes of the scheduled ninety left to go, Easington grabbed onto a lifeline, when amid some frantic action inside the Ollerton goalmouth, Haynes saved twice, before the ball fell to Barnett, who rolled a pass across the face of the goal to where Paul Wilkinson forced it across the line with Jordan Schofield making a last ditch attempt to clear it off the line.
I was stood directly behind the goal and I'll stick my neck out and say, although some people credited it as an own goal, it was definitely Wilkinsons... Happy Xmas Jordan Schofield! ;-)
In stoppage time Easington were in the hunt for an equaliser that hadn't looked to be on the cards for most of the first half, but with players committed forward for a corner, they were hit on the break when Ollerton cleared their lines and countered quickly, Holden charged off his line in a vainglorious attempt to cut out Ludlow's run through the left channel, but the Ollerton player chipped his sides fourth goal over the advancing keeper, to finally seal a deserved victory.
FT: Ollerton Town 4 v Easington United 2

Andy Martin R.I.P

Ollerton's match programme contained a fitting tribute to Andy Martin, the Easington United stalwart who sadly passed away recently. 

I'm sure that everyone who has ever been involved in the CMFL in any capacity, who have had dealings with Easington United will echo Dave Winter's heartfelt sentiments:

I'd like to offer my personal condolences to Easington after the recent tragic loss of a top club man Andy Martin. You can never underestimate what certain individuals do for their clubs and Andy was someone who gave everything to Easington and will be a great loss to the club. But I'm confident that they will move forward as Andy would have wanted them to.