Retford United 2 v Chesterfield 3 - WVH NMU19L

Tuesday 2nd May 2017
WVH North Midland U19 League
Retford United 2
Chesterfield 3
Admission £3 inc programme

An entertaining Tuesday night fixture, with all three teams dedicated to keeping the game flowing, in an open an attacking manner; that's Retford United, Chesterfield and the match officials: Gareth Tye, and his assistants Ian Cox and Graham Taylor.

Mr Taylor sprinted up and down the touchline like a spritely young man half of his age, while Mr Cox did well to keep up, while shifting his weight from foot to foot on the touchline, in a manner akin to the Honey Monster waiting outside a locked bathroom door while in desperate need for a slash. During a break in play, Mr Tye amused us all with his very passable impression of an inflatable porn doll's face, see below. The tapestry of local football is definitely made richer by the presence of such dedicated and stalwart participants.

A decent second half recovery by the young Badgers side, saw them finish the game in the ascendancy possession wise, but the visitors had already given them a (very steep) hill to climb as they swept into a three goal lead, courtesy of a close range from Lewis O'Connor who reacted quickest to reach the rebound as Adam Hicks pushed away Max Dungworth's curling free kick, and a double from Danny Williams, the first of which he netted from an angle after United were breached from the left hand side of their crowded goal area and a second one that was a carbon copy of the Spireites first goal, when the Retford defence failed to clear their lines after Hicks had kept out O'Connor's stinging long range free kick.

Lessons in life. Turn up with a top knot in your
hair and you're going straight on the bench.

Due to the kind of player availability issues that all clubs face now that most of the silverware has been spoken for and young men suddenly find that they have work/college/family commitments on match nights, which more often that not is just excuses (and possibly even fibs) along the same lines as they would've told their teachers a few years ago about the dog eating their homework, the visitors were forced to play the smallest player on the pitch, Connah Evans in defence alongside O'Connor, but if Retford had thought that this was a positional switch that they could exploit, they would've been wrong, as Evans revelled in tackling his extra responsibilities and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying his change in roles.

The game reached the hour mark Retford sprang into life, probably running around to keep themselves warm, as the sun vanished beneath the sky line and the temperature suddenly plummeted like a stone.

Cole Oliver knocked the ball through to Liam White, whose shot on the turn was tipped around the post by Jazz Crane. 

The home side worked a short corner routine, before Casburn turned home Olly Presley's left wing cross to pull a goal back.

Harry Cooke sprinted forward down the right flank and his diagonal shot flew narrowly wide of the post as Retford tried to force the issue and get back into the game.

Owen Murphy sprinted forward in pursuit of a long pass, but Hicks was came out quickly to meet him and timed his tackle well. the home side attacked again and as Chesterfield launched the ball clear from inside their crowd penalty area, it fell to Presley thirty yards who crashed it into the top corner of the Chesterfield net from thirty yards out.

A frantic finale ensued, but Retford couldn't quite find the finishing touch to claim the draw and the three goal deficit proved to be slightly too much of an obstacle for them to overcome.

FT: Retford United U19 2 v Chesterfield U19 3