Wednesday 8 January 2020

Retford United 4 v Long Eaton United Community 1 - CMFL LC R3

Wednesday 8th January 2020
Central Midlands League - League Cup - Third Round
at Cannon Park
Retford United (1) 4
Mark West 29, 59, 67
Zach Casburn 90+1
Long Eaton United Community (0) 1
Nathan Banton 90
Attendance: 91
Match photos by Jon Knight @Retfordsnapper: Click HERE
Paul Holland's young visiting side, gave a very good account of themselves and obviously have a great deal of raw talent coming up through their ranks, but the Badgers were too strong for them on the night as they cruised through the gears to earn themselves quarter-final place, where they will face Sherwood Colliery Reserves at Debdale Park, in Mansfield Woodhouse, on Wednesday 12th February (7.45PM).
It was a refreshingly open game and both sides signalled their attacking intentions inside the opening two minutes, as Mark West's first attempt on goal at one end was well saved by Marcus Coombs at one end, while Tom Crosby was soon in action at the other, repelling Reece Widdowson's strike.
The hosts began to impose themselves as the game unfolded, with the influential Danny Abdulla taking on the guise of a midfield enforcer, winning several toe to toe battles against all-comers, while distributing the ball to good effect and spraying a great range of passes around to his team-mates.
Long Eaton rolled their sleeves up and faced up to what was proving to be a tough test for them, but the home side struck the first blow, when Igor Mlynarski, who proved to be a real handful for the Derbyshire side on the left-hand side of Retford's attack all night, drilled a low cross into the visitors six-yard box, that sat up awkwardly between Coombs and West as they challenged for possession, but it was the Badgers striker who won that duel, when he stabbed the ball over the keeper, who'd gone to ground, to open the scoring.
West went close to doubling the advantage, when he cut through the right channel and very nearly claimed a great solo goal for himself, but Coombs was equal to the crisply struck angled shot and fielded the ball away.
Benny Wilson, displaying the same kind of traits and confidence that his manager had when he was still a youngster at Mansfield Town, picked up the ball just inside the Retford half and motored forward and as the defence backed off and picked up whoever they were marking, Wilson improvised, and having been denied any opportunity to pass the ball, he took on the responsibility himself and grazed the outside of the foot of the right-hand post with a dipping shot.
Zach Casburn rolled a measured pass out wide to find the overlapping Mlynarski on the left, who delivered an identical cross to the one that West had scored from, but Coombs smothered the ball this time, as the Retford forward homed in.
Coombs was called into action again twice before the break, and it was West both times, yet again, that keeping the visitors number one busy. Initially, having picked up a sideways pass from Mlynarski, inside the Long Eaton area, West found himself surrounded by visiting players, so he scooped the ball over them with a clever flick,
that dropped towards the top left hand corner of the goal, but Coombs managed to reach the ball at full stretch, just in the nick of time... and just before half-time, the ever effervescent Abdulla, unlocked the defence with a slide-rule pass into the path of West, who drilled a shot that was destined to nestle just inside the foot of the right stick, until the busy visitors keeper got down well to push the ball out at the expense of a corner.
HT: Badgers 1 v Blues (or Reds, if you want to be pedantic) 0
The pair of them behaved impeccably all night.
And so did their canine companions.
At this key stage of their development, it is important that these young Long Eaton players pit themselves against strong, more established sides. They'll learn and benefit far more from the sort of challenges they faced tonight, than playing at youth team level all of the time. It's s steep learning curve and a massive step up, moving into the men's game from having excelled as the cream of the crop at intermediate level.
They were almost on level terms right at the start of the second half when Jamie Light and Widdowson combined on the left before the latter knocked a ball across the face of Crosby's goal that only needed a touch. Alas, if the diminutive Abdul Ziblini had been a foot taller, he would've got to that, but Retford survived a close call, while Ziblini went back to his more accustomed role, as a bustling, ball-playing wide man, with an impressive array of close control and dribbling skills.
An uphill battle for the visitors, became a quest of Everest type proportions (no, not the Indian restaurant on Grove Street... Paul Holland wouldn't have any problems tackling that particular challenge), when Casburn powered down the right flank, before picking out West who headed home his second goal of the night.
And it was game over, bar the shouting, when West claimed his hat-trick, at the second attempt, after his initial shot was blocked, but rebounded back to him, and he hooked it past Coombs from just inside the goal area.
One unsung hero of Retford's victory tonight, was Olly Lawrence, who marshalled the right hand side of the defence well, while getting forward in support of the attack and weighing in across the middle of the pitch too... a real team player.
It was Lawrence who spotted that Casburn had found himself an acre and a half of space on the edge of the Long Eaton area and knocked a lengthy pass his way, that would've put the Badger number nine in on goal, if Coombs hadn't spotted the danger before charging off of his line to head the ball away.
As if to reinforce my point, Lawrence broke forward himself and Coombs had to make yet another save down by his left hand post, as the right-back/right-half/right-winger/right-handful, slashed the ball into the danger zone from the right hand side bi-line.
Even though there was probably no way back for the visitors now, Crosby still needed to remain alert and he made a great stop when Nathan Banton and Josh Lane combined well in front of his goal.

In the last minute, Ziblini put a great ball in from out on the right that Banton met with a towering header and dispatched a thumping header into the roof of the net to claim a consolation goal for the visitors.
But it wasn't over yet, and as the game went into to stoppage time, Coombs tangled with Casburn as he took the ball around him and the referee: Will Murray, awarded the homer side a penalty.
Casburn duly picked himself up and took the resulting spot-kick himself, burying the ball emphatically past Coombs.
FT: Retford United 4 v Long Eaton United Comm. 1
A word of praise is also due to the cluster of Retford United youngsters who played a big part in tonight's game too. I'm sure that their manager Liam Kay, will have been pleased with their efforts too.
Tomorrow night (Thursday 9.1.20), Worksop Town U21's are the visitors to Cannon Park, when they take on the Badgers U21 side in a North Midland U21 League fixture, that kicks off at 7.45PM