Collingham FC 1 v Newark Town 2 - CMFL North

Friday 9th December 2016
Central Midlands League North
at Station Road, Collingham
Collingham FC (0) 1
Luke Clifford 55
Newark Town (0) 2
Jammy Lloyd 69, Dom Swingler 71
Admission £3. Programme £1. Attendance 265

First things first. Collingham FC had put a lot of time and effort into organising this Friday night local derby fixture and worked non-stop on the night to ensure that no comfort was spared for the 265 hardy souls who headed to Station Road for their football fix.
Their endeavours were greatly appreciated by all present, the food was fantastic and the friendly ambiance of the whole night made for a memorable occasion for all present.
Well done to all concerned.

These Friday night CMFL fixtures are proving to be a very popular addition to the calendar for numerous football travelers and the #floodyfriday initiative, to give this venture it's correct hashtag handle, will be helping clubs to raise some much needed funds for a change, something that the grassroots end of the game is desperately in need of.
Mr CMFL Fixtures Secretary, Chris Berezai...well played that man.
A great idea, I'm really glad it is being so well supported.
The next Friday night CMFL game to be played at this ground, will see Newark Town welcoming Bilsthorpe on Friday 6th January 2017; and I bet that you're all already licking your lips in anticipation at the prospect of that one. I know I am!
Bring it on!

The game got underway and Collingham, resplendent in their amber and black hoops, were making most of the early running, with Sidnei Costa and Craig Bridge, both going close but being denied by Nathan Burrows in the 'visitors' goal, Note, I put the word visitors in inverted commas, because for those of you who don't already know, Newark Town also play their home games on Collingham's ground... and have done since 2004.
Burrows was called into action again, punching clear from a Bridge free kick, as the home side looked to make good of their early momentum.

Collingham manager Paul Hyde.
Sadly his assistant isn't called Dr Jekyll.

Luke Clifford lobbed a pass into the path of Drew Allwood, who met it with a thumping header at the back post but diverted the ball across the face of the goal and wide of the right hand upright.
Marlon Grundy whipped a cross into Newark's six yard box from out on the right and Tom Moore raced in to meet the ball at the same sime as Newark's captain, Ricky Brewer. As they came together and tumbled to the ground (see below), both teams appealed for a foul, but the referee Jack Forder had seen nothing amiss and waved play on.

Another free kick delivery from Bridge was punched away by Burrows and Costa couldn't quite latch onto the loose ball to sustain the home side's attack.
Newark had finally started to get to grips with the tempo of the game, and having absorbed a spell of sustained pressure from Paul Hyde's team, almost sneaked a goalagainst the run of play, when Will Nelson was inches away from squeezing Jordan Cummings excellent free kick past Ellis Spencer by the left hand post.
Bridge once again found Burrows to be telepathically linked to his intentions, when the 'visitors' keeper rose above his defence to comfortably collect another dead ball kick from Collingham's number 8.

Right to left: Tony Joynes and Simon Daws.
Newark Town's management duo.

Richard Dent, Jammy Lloyd  and George Pearce, passed their way down the right hand flank towards the Collingham area, but the home side snuffed out the move after the Newark trio had shown some impressive footwork to work their way so far up the pitch.
But there was little subtlety involved with the 'away' side's next effort, when Tyler Martin, out on the left wing around thirty five yards from goal, saw a crowded penalty area ahead of him and tride his luck with an optimistic long range shot, that wasn't too far away, but landed on top of the crossbar.
HT: Home Team 0 v Away Team 0

Collingham had enjoyed by far more of the ball for the opening half a hour or so, but Newark had started to pick up their tempo towards the break.
Pearce had the first chance of the second half, but rushed his shot and opted for power over precision after ghosting through the home side's defence, arriving unnoticed from a deep position.
Marcus Grundy looked odds on to open the scoring, but Stuart Rose got across his run and made a timely intervention.

Surely you're not having another hot dog Mr Townsend!?

But one piece on intuitive defending by one Newark player, was followed by a bit of a calamity for another, when Brewer slipped while trying to clear the ball, allowing Clifford a clear run on goal and he drilled a low shot past Burrows to put Collingham ahead.
The home side came close to doubling their lead from the next forward move, when Pearce headed Moore's left wing corner away off the goal line.
Dent directed a long pass into the Collingham goalmouth, that Martin flicked towards the goal, but his header didn't have enough power behind it to trouble Spencer.

Grundy and Clifford attacked the left channel of Newark's area in tandem and Grundy poked his shot just past the wrong side of the post.
That could have been, more or less,  game over. But with the game going into it's last twenty minutes, Newark were awarded afree kick just outside their hosts area... and Jammy Lioyd whacked a thunderous drive into the top right hand corner of the net before Burrows could even move.
It was a quality strike... you don't stop those!

Within two minutes the 'Peaceful Warriors', had turned the game on it's head, when Dom Swingler, who had only just been introduced from the bench, added the finishing touch to another Lloyd free kick.
Collingham will have been very, very disappointed not to have put this game to bed during the opening half a hour when they had Newark on the back foot and were pummeling them.
But that wasn't going to bother tonight's visitors one bit, as they had stood firm, depended on a couple of last ditch clearances and the agility on their keeper on occasions, but now they had nudged their way in front, with a smash and grab raid, that any ram raider worth his salt would've been very proud of.

Newark Town FC - Happy fellows!

The home side must have been stunned but brushed themselves down and went looking for a late equaliser ina game that they must ave thought was virtually won just a short while ago.
Grundy beat the last defender and homed in on  the Newark goal, but he went to ground as Nelson pushed him in the back. The referee had no option but to show Nelson a second yellow card and invited him to leave the pitch for the last remaining moments.
The question now was, did Nelson foul Grundy inside or outside the area?
Mr Forder indicated that Collingham had a free kick just inches outside.
Clifford struck the ball low and hard and Burrows was beaten, but the free kick went wide of the upright... and Newark held on for all three points.
FT: Collingham 1 v Newark Town 2

I like new stuff!
Both team's badges, festoon my Maltby Main hat.

In a nutshell, Collingham should have won and they would've done, if they had found the net more often from the numerous chances that they had created.
Was the late foul inside the area... which would've seen the home side being awarded with a penalty? Possibly it was! I thought so. But it was a hard one to call and the referee was nearer to the incident than me. Nelson's red card was definitely a case of taking one for the team and the timing of his foul couldn't have been any better for them.
I will be back at Collingham again on Wednesday night, when theey will be looking to bounce straight back against my pals from Retford FC.
If you're the Newark fan who said: "Bloody hell, what's he going to do?" when Dom Swingler came on... there's your answer pal!