Worksop Town 0 v Barton Town Old Boys 2 - NCEL LC R3

Wednesday 9th December 2015

Toolstation NCEL League Cup 3rd Round
at the Windsor Foodservice Stadium
Worksop Town (0) 0
Barton Town Old Boys (0) 2
Jacob Cawsey 48
Ashley Lattimore 67 Pen
Admission £5. Programme £1. Attendance 204

Both teams got exactly what they deserved from tonight's game, as Barton Town Old Boys progressed through to the next round of the NCEL League Cup, while Worksop Town had nothing to come... or even give at times for that matter.
Pantomime season arrived early at Sandy Lane, but the Tigers back four's slapstick antics as they ignored the warning cries of "He's behind you!", weren't even in the slightest bit amusing, especially for their goalkeeper(s).
A frantically paced first half, was crying out for somebody to put their foot on the ball and slow things down a touch, and rather than delighting the home crowd with their usual pass and move game, Worksop only seem to being moving the ball around fast, so they could get rid of it and abdicate the responsibility of trying to find an opening to a.n.other.

Andy Ofosu was an exception to the above, though only sporadically. He set up a great chance for his captain Steve Woolley inside the first minute, but Woolley's shot crashed off the bar, then forced a save out of Ryan Ramsden and worked himself another opening and let fly with a shot that came back off the bar. But as regards Worksop Town, this paragraph just about covers their first half highlights.
I've watched quite a lot of Tigers games over the years, both home and away... and sadly I have to report, that this performance certainly ranks among the very worst I've ever seen for ages.
I lost count of the astonishing amount of stray passes played between Worksop players well before half time.

Barton turned up with a gameplan and they did a job on the Tigers, big style, but they probably hadn't bargained on the home side putting their own keeper(s) under just as much pressure as the visitors were doing themselves.
Jon Kennedy thwarted Ashley Dexter as the visitors skipper almost headed an opening goal, as the home side were forced to defend (rather haphazardly) a succession of corner kicks, that they were dealing with with all of the aplomb of a three legged pub crawl race, venturing between their eighth and ninth licensed premises.
Barton ought to have been in front at the break, but they weren't (yet).
HT: Nil each

Three minutes into the second half Julian Lawrence made a complete mess of heading the ball away, Gareth Owen shot, Kennedy parried and Jake Cawsey was on hand to knock in the rebound.

The visitors were in front... and if truth be told, it had been coming.

Mitch Husband's went down in the Barton area, but the referee saw no wrong in the tackle that took the Tigers striker out.

One of Worksop's many back passes, was ultimately their undoing, in the sixty seventh minute, when James Cottingham rolled the ball back to his keeper, but the visitors had already sussed out how frequently the Tigers had continued to commit defensive suicide, causing Jon Kennedy untold problems, with over hit, under hit and completely misdirected back passes... and they had runners chasing every ball down and playing 'rush goalie'.

Kennedy kicked the Barton player instead of the ball and received a red card for his troubles.

Worksop striker Mitch Husbands went in goal and his first touch saw him picking Ashley Lattimore's spot kick out of the back of his net.

Husbands did well in an unorthodox but effective sort of way, even though his defence still kept peppering their stand in keeper with an unnecessary amount of back passes, it beggared belief.

Cawsey was close to adding a third goal for the visitors towards the end, but Husbands saved at his feet.

FT: Worksop Town 0 v Barton Town Old Boys 2

The Tigers have suffered more than most of late, from having their best players tempted away to clubs who play at a higher level, which obviously indicates that they must be signing a good calibre of players in the first place, but it must be a concern to their manager Mark Shaw, who is repeatedly being expected to pull yet another rabbit out of the hat, because there isn't an inexhaustible supply of ready made replacements out there who will want to play their trade at step 5 of non league football. But the Tigers will need to be looking to bolster their ranks any time soon, if tonight's lacklustre showing is anything to go by. 

In a nutshell, the best team won tonight and the Tigers fell short of the standard required to beat Dave Anderson's side. Barton are one of the better sides in the NCEL and any team that defends recklessly and carelessly against them will get punished the same way that Worksop did tonight.