WVH North Midland U19 League
at 'Swall Siro', Rotherham Road, Swallownest
Swallownest (3) 4
Retford United (3) 5
I'm really glad that they didn't though... and lord knows they must be now as well.
Hopefully, by the next time I venture across this way, this ambitious club will have been accepted into the NCEL.
And by all accounts the verdict on that decision will be known very soon.
When these two sides last met back in October, Swallownest enjoyed a 4-0 win.
Tonight they put another four past Adam Hicks, but lost the game.
In the fourth minute, the Swall goalkeeper Kyle Matthews, plucked the ball away from the head of Cole Oliver, who had made a run to meet Zach Casburn's cross from out on the right flank.
Matthews cleared the ball with a long kick, the home side swept forward and with a classic case of turning defence into attack, Dale Featherstone placed the ball past Hicks open the scoring.
Featherstone was soon involved again, releasing Connor Gregg inside the visitors goal area, but when he went to ground, the referee Josh Bramall ruled that he had tripped over and waved play on.
Future England captain and next door neighbour to that bloke who writes THE66POW blog, Liam Bennett, 'dinked' a great ball forward for Oliver, who nudged it past the advancing Matthews and continued his run, but Jack Leitch got across to clear the ball away.
In the fourth minute, the Swall goalkeeper Kyle Matthews, plucked the ball away from the head of Cole Oliver, who had made a run to meet Zach Casburn's cross from out on the right flank.
Matthews cleared the ball with a long kick, the home side swept forward and with a classic case of turning defence into attack, Dale Featherstone placed the ball past Hicks open the scoring.
Featherstone was soon involved again, releasing Connor Gregg inside the visitors goal area, but when he went to ground, the referee Josh Bramall ruled that he had tripped over and waved play on.
Future England captain and next door neighbour to that bloke who writes THE66POW blog, Liam Bennett, 'dinked' a great ball forward for Oliver, who nudged it past the advancing Matthews and continued his run, but Jack Leitch got across to clear the ball away.
Gregg threatened the Retford goal again but when he went one against one with Adam Hicks, the visitors keeper saved with his feet.
Owen Ryan swung a dangerous looking delivery into the visitors six yard box from out on the left wing, but it crashed against the outside of the upright and went behind for a goal kick.
Swallownest increased their lead after twenty two minutes, when Louis Ballard cracked the ball home from angles as the Badgers defence backed off.
But Retford attacked straight from the restart and the handy looking Liam White had pulled a goal back within sixty seconds and then, on the half hour, White drilled the ball past Matthews again to put Retford on level terms.
Owen Ryan swung a dangerous looking delivery into the visitors six yard box from out on the left wing, but it crashed against the outside of the upright and went behind for a goal kick.
Swallownest increased their lead after twenty two minutes, when Louis Ballard cracked the ball home from angles as the Badgers defence backed off.
But Retford attacked straight from the restart and the handy looking Liam White had pulled a goal back within sixty seconds and then, on the half hour, White drilled the ball past Matthews again to put Retford on level terms.
Featherstone was the width of a fag paper away from bagging a hat trick for himself, when he nodded Ryan's cross wide with the Retford defence running around in "Don't panic Mr Mainwaring!" mode.
Callum Amendola looked to pick out Bennett with a cross, but Matthews collected the ball before it reached it's intended target.
Ryan and Gregg attacked Hicks goal in tandem and looked odds on to score, but Retford got the ball away somehow and attacked down the right flank, from where Zach Casburn presented White with a simple tap in to claim his hat trick and send the teams in level at the break.
HT: Swall 3 v Badgers 3
However Retford were soon back on the attack and after Swall cleared away another Casburn corner, he picked out White with his next delivery and he couldn't miss from three yards out as he put the visitors in front with a poacher's goal.
Gregg planted a dipping cross in front of Featherstone, but Hicks made a save to keep Swall at bay.
The home side's number ten held the ball up well on the edge of the Badgers area, but Ollie Presley, the Retford captain, sniffed the ball out like a hunting dog and launched it towards the opposite end of the pitch.
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| Hinge & Bracket. They never close. |
Casburn advanced owards the right hand edge of the Swall area from the halfway line and slipped the ball into the path of Cam Evans, who netted a cheeky goal, with a sublime chip over Matthews who was advancing off of his line to cut down the diminutive substitutes options.
Junior Gama tried encroaching into Retford territory from out on the right hand side of their area, but Harry Cooke was keeping the tricky winger in check.
Bennett won the ball in midfield and paced forward thirty yards, but Matthews came out bravely to claim the ball at his feet.
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| Steve's scratchcard addiction is starting to become a bit of a problem now. |
Six minutes from time, Ryan motored forward and knocked a sideways pass to Gregg, whose half volley cannoned off Cooke and went out for a corner.
Callum Mounsey took the flag kick and in the middle of a goalmouth scramble a Retford player put the ball into his own net.
Presley nudged the ball forward to White, who took four strides forward before lashing a shot wide of the post.
The last action of the second half, saw Featherstone pick out Gregg with a knock from the right hand side of the Retford area, but he diverted his header past the outside of he post.
FT: Swallownest 4 v Retford United 5
