Wednesday 31 August 2016

Worksop Town 5 v Garforth Town 1 - NCEL Prem

Wednesday 31st August 2016
Toolstation NCEL Premier Division
Worksop Town (3) 5
Steve Woolley 18, Kyle Jordan 24, Richard Adams 27,
Adam Somes 50, Adam Scott 75
Garforth Town (1) 1
Mark Simpson 45
Admission £5. Programme £1. Attendance 412
With a lot of NCEL clubs (well, those that declare honest and properly counted attendance statistics) struggling to get above double figures, it's impressive that the 412 who turned out at the Windsor Foodservice Stadium tonight constitutes Worksop's lowest turn out of the season so far, with their previous three home games all attracting bigger crowds. 
Alas, average gates don't guarantee you success, points win prizes, but on tonight's showing, Mark Shaw isn't far away from assembling a side that could be in the running for the solitary promotion spot available from this division when the honours are divided up at the end of April. But obviously there is a long way to go yet and a good few clubs with serious title ambitions of their own.
Three goals inside a nineteen minute spell killed Garforth off tonight, even though the visitors had arrived at Sandy Lane with attacking intentions of their own and created a string of chances for themselves, while knocking the ball around well at times.
Richard Adams and Kieron Fenton both had really good games for 'the Tigers' tonight and Callum Harrison along with Alex Pugh who came on in his place in the second half, linked up well in the hole between defence and attack and made a telling contribution to the Tigers victory.
But the two really outstanding players on the night for Worksop were Jordan Hodder and Adam Scott.
Jake Rose almost put the visitors in front inside the opening  minute, but his shot was charged down by Adams.
From Worksop's first attack, Hodder's cross crashed off the right hand upright after he'd mounted a charge down the right flank.
Scott created two chances for Kyle Jordan in quick succession, one went wide while the other thumped against the crossbar, much to the chagrin of some old moaners in  the stand.
Garforth went close again when Lee Turner broke into the home side's area and forced a save out of John Kennedy, and Alex Nightingale did well to clear Casey Stewart's follow up off the line.
Steve Woolley opened the scoring for Worksop on 18 minutes, after Scott slipped a pinpoint pass to his feet through 'the Miners' defence, after making a diagonal run from right to left with the ball seemingly glued to his feet as he skipped past several challenges.
Turner fizzed a shot just wide of Kennedy's left hand post as the visitors made an immediate effort to get back on level terms, but 'the Tigers' doubled the lead from their next attack, when Hodder raced forward on the right again, before the delivering the ball across the face of goal to Jordan, who swept the ball past Dominic Smith.
Three minutes later, Adams put the icing on a commanding display when he diverted a header past Smith from a left wing corner and you had to wonder just how many goals were on the cards for Mark Shaw's side tonight.
As the home side threatened to run riot, Jordan cracked a shot over the crossbar from eighteen yards out, but Garforth steadied the game down towards half time and Stewart poked the ball wide of Kennedy's goal from the edge of the box, while Mark Simpson tapped home Turners right wing cross to pull a goal back for 'the Miners' in stoppage time.
HT: Tigers 3 v Miners 1
Worksop attacked from the off after the restart, but when Adam Somes headed Steve Woolley's right wing cross back across the face of Garforth's goal there was nobody on hand to provide the final touch.
On 50 minutes, Somes was involved again, when his run into the box was picked out superbly from midfield by Scott and the former Clipstone striker drilled the ball past Smith to restore 'the Tigers' three goal cushion.
Even at 4-1 down, Garforth refused to chuck in the towel and they came close to pulling a goalback when Mitch Harrison knocked the ball over the bar from inside the Worksop area.
Scott raced past a defender and went one against one with Smith who went down and saved bravely at his feet.
Nightingale made a mess of clearing the ball and Turner pounced on his error but put the ball wide of the post.
'The Tigers' swept forward again and Smith didn't really well to keep Fenton's dipping shot out as the Worksop number 6 homed in on goal through the left channel.
'The Tigers' fifth goal was an absolute peach (whatever that means), when Scott won the ball in the middle of the park, nutmegged Sam Leach and sprinted forward before unleashing a twenty five yard shot past Smith to send the home fans into raptures. Just days  after turning down a lucrative move to Shaw LaneAquaforce, Scott is cementing himself as a crowd favourite with 'the Tigers' faithful and weighing in with more than is share of quality goals, what a signing he is proving to be.
The much travelled Henry Sibenge came on as a late substitute for the home side, but there wasn't really enough time for him to impose himself on the game, although he did show his new audience a brief cameo of what he is capable of, when he dribbled towards the Garforth goal past two full blooded challenges.
Late in the day Somes went close to adding a sixth goal when Pugh released him with a smart forward pass from midfield as the youngster stamped his credentials on the game with a performance that suggested he is knocking very loudly on the door for a regular spot in the starting line up, but if truth be told, Garforth had given a decent account of themselves in places and probably didn't deserve to be on the receiving end of an even bigger scoreline tonight, especially with last season's 8-1 thrashing still fresh in the memory.
FT: Worksop Town 5 v Garforth Town 1
Garforth Town welcome Pickering Town to the J.S. White & Co. Community Stadium on Saturday, while Retford United will be the visitors to the Windsor Foodservice Stadium, for a local derby game against Worksop that the current form of both teams suggests will be quite a high scoring one.