Toolstation NCEL Premier Division
at Sandy Lane
Handsworth Parramore (1) 3
Jed Phillips 45, 72
Alex Rippon 60
Liversedge FC (0) 1
Rhys Davies 50
Admission £5. Programme £1.50
Attendance 82
Football... what else is there that's worth doing on a Thursday night?
The Ambers had the ball in the visitors net inside the second minute, when Lee Cooksey got his head to Jordan Lemon's right wing corner, but the referee had spotted some pushing and shoving subsequently disallowed the goal.
Liversedge showed that they weren't just here to make the numbers up and pushed forward, but Brad Davies' cross from the right flank was a fraction too far in front of Joe Walton and he headed wide of the goal at full stretch.
Walton had another chance moments later, but his shot flew past the wrong side of the right hand post via a heavy deflection.
Harry Stead got down well to keep out a long range effort by Jordan Turner, who was playing to the left off of Alex Rippon who was leading the line tonight, with Jamie Green playing in support on the right. Obviously the continued absence of Jon Froggatt through injury, is a big loss to Handsworth's fire power, but Rippon adapted very well to his enforced role tonight.
At the other end, Liversedge were queuing up to shoot, but James Leverton came off his line and limited Rhys Davies options and he curled his shot wide.
Stead and Rippon went head to head twice in a matter of minutes, with the Sedge keeper initially getting in a muddle trying to clear the ball with Rippon in close attendance, before recovering, but pulling off a great save to deny the versatile front man, when he'd got a touch on Ollie Yates right wing cross.
While Brad Nicholson, the Ambers number three was tearing about here, there and everywhere to good effect. I would usually have said that he was covering every blade of grass on the left hand side of the pitch, but the former billiard table like surface at Sandy Lane has been taking some real hammer this term, what with the crap weather and the amount of games that get played on it by various teams... and the green, green, grass of home is a pretty scarce commodity at the current time.
HT: Ambers 1 v Sedge 0
Jordan Lemon had a shot blocked by Cameron Taylor right at the start of the second half, then saw his cross into a crowded area cleared by the same player three minutes later.
With the Ambers committing players forward in search of a second goal, Brad Davies spotted that Leverton was patrolling the edge of his area and launched a Nayim-esque audacious dipping shot from near the halfway line, but the young keeper, who is with the Ambers on a work experience arrangement from Doncaster Rovers, back-pedalled and comfortably collected the ball a yard from his goal line.
The game continued to ebb and flow one way then the other, until the hour mark when Handsworth won a corner, that Lemon swung into the visitors area, but they shut up shop and cleared the ball out of immediate harms way, but into the path of Nicholson, whose chip back into the mix was met by Rippon who restored the Ambers lead with a textbook header.
Jamie Green showed a burst of pace and a clean pair of heels to Taylor, but Stead had read the situation and got his angles right, to make a save.
Brad Davies charged through the right channel into the Handsworth area at full tilt, but Leverton advanced forward to block his shot and well the loose ball fell to Mark Lamb, he dragged his shot wide.
Arron Fell got forward twice in quick succession for Sedge, but his first run was blocked by a timely challenge by Parirs Dixon and having got clear with his second, Walton was the thickness of a dermatologically tested Gosammer Fetherlite prophylactic away from nudging home a second equaliser for the visitors.
Liversedge must've been wondering by now, if Leverton studied witchcraft in his spare time and had activated some kind of force-field around his six yard box tonight, because they simply weren't going to get the rub of the green in front of the Ambers goal, if they had carried on plugging away until midnight.
And the visitors frustration was compounded still further in the seventy fifth minute, when the ever lively Rippon played a delicate sideways pass to Phillips who crashed the ball past Stead to extend the hosts lead. Evidently, Phillips doesn't go for tap ins.
Liversedge, in spite of their best efforts were now finished and took to conserving their energy for the forthcoming three games a day, eight days a week fixtures backlog they now face (a slight exaggeration... but only a very slight one), as the monsoon season continues unabated in West Yorkshire.
In the closing moments, Stead kept out Rippon's header at full stretch and Stuart Ludlam thumped a shot wide of the visitors right hand post from twenty five yards.
FT: Handsworth Parramore 3 v Liversedge 1
Devon Cash's blog about tonight's game can be viewed by clicking HERE
