Retford United Development 1 v Welbeck Lions Reserves 2 - CMFL Div. One North

Tuesday 19th March 2019
Central Midlands League Division One North
at Cannon Park
Retford United Development (0) 1
Michael Wibberley 65
Welbeck Lions Reserves (2) 2
Ethan Marsh 7,  Arron Darch 37 pen

Welbeck Lions began the night at the bottom of the table, with zero points on the board and a goal differential of minus 46, their previous tally was scrubbed when AFC Bentley withdrew from the competition.
The people involved with the Lions (previously known as Welbeck Welfare) have for a long time shown far more fortitude and pluck than I could ever imagine being able to muster up, for turning up week in, week out and putting a shift in, when results and league positions have seldom been their strong point. You must have to dig really deep inside ones soul, to find sufficient motivation to keep coming back for more of the same, but credit where it is due, because, that is exactly what Welbeck have been doing, as they keep rolling up their sleeves and adopting an 'in it together' and 'all for one, one for all' mindset, while toughing things out, regardless of the odds of them getting any kind of end result being stacked heavily against them.

It would be nice to think, that just maybe, tonight's result might act as a springboard for the 'Welfare' to actually pull themselves away from the bottom of the pile.
The visitors started well... and questions were being asked of the 'Badgers' defence early on, when Corey Luck advanced forward and smashed a shot just wide of the right hand post from twenty five yards out.
Luck was involved again in the seventh minute, when, for want of a better word, he lumped a dipping free kick into the home sides area, which dropped over the static home defence and was met by the blind side run of Ethan Marsh, who got his head to the ball and steered it past Jack Pasley.
Advantage Welbeck!

Retford's cage had been rattled and they bombarded their visitors area with a relentless bombardment, akin to a scatter-bombing raid, but a combination of sole profligate finishing, good fortune and s string of great stops by Jak Toon, kept them at bay, as Joe Coleman, Muhamet Gashi and Michael Wibberley must have been wondering what else they could possibly do to puncture Welbeck's rearguard.
The visitors advanced towards the home sides area and Jordan Turner whipped the ball in from twenty yard outs, where it hit the hand of Will Sutton, who was penalised by the referee, who awarded a penalty, even though Sutton had eff all chance of getting out of the way. However, Arron Darch, the visitors captain, wasn't unduly concerned about the United number three's plight... as he stepped forward and buried the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the net.

Eagle eyed readers will have noticed that both sides had a Jordan Turner playing for them tonight and several numbers have been amended on one of the team sheets... and you wonder why us silly old bloggers get things wrong sometimes/most of the time*. That's a piss poor excuse for me being a rubbish reporter, I know, but I'm desperately clinging onto it, because it's all that I've got.
Having gone in two goals behind at the break, the hosts came flying out of the traps after the restart, and Gashi was unlucky to see his effort fizz past the post and into the side netting.
But the Lions were roaring now and only a brave save from Pasley and a last ditch block inside the six yard box, stopped Marsh and Turner from increasing the visitors lead.
Sutton drilled a free kick into the visitors defensive wall from twenty five yards out, as Retford stepped up the ante in an attempt to get back into the game. And in the sixty fifth minute, they pulled a goal back, when Michael Wibberley pounced to score off the rebound, after Ash Brook had headed against the right hand post.

Sutton launched a great delivery into the visitors area, that Brook met with a thumping header, but the ball narrowly cleared Toon's crossbar.
Welbeck were having to throw all of their efforts into defending deeply now, as they battled gamely to repel a Badgers side, who were piling on the pressure in search of a late equaliser.
Dan Murdock excelled at the back for the visitors as the hosts threw everything they had into the mix... and right at the death, Toon did well to reach Sutton's long range free kick at full stretch, as he turned the ball away from the top left hand corner of his net.
And the Lions showed a hell of a lot of character, as they held on to claim a rare win.
FT: Retford United Development 1 v Welbeck Lions Reserves 0