N C East Prem Div                                   Sat 25 February 2006

GLASSHOUGHTON WELFARE                  1  LIVERSEDGE                                              2                   

WELFARE CONTINUED THEIR IMPROVEMENT IN FORM, AND ON GOALSCORING OPPORTUNITIES ALONE, SHOULD HAVE HAD A SHARE OF THE SPOILS AGAINST THIRD PLACED VISITORS.

Within minutes of the start Welfare could have gone ahead but Danny King’s clever lob went just over with visiting keeper Kyle Sutcliffe well beaten.  However, Welfare were not to be denied and when ex-player John Haigh attempted to run the ball out Danny King nipped in to steal and when brought down to give Graham Whitehead the opportunity to smash home from the penalty spot to give the home men a five minute lead.

Whitehead then had two golden opportunities to put Welfare well in command, firstly being put clear one to one with Sutcliffe but driving the chance wide and then forcing the keeper to pull off a terrific save.  With the Liversedge defence struggling to contain, Welfare appeared to be well on top, but were dealt a body blow when the usually reliable Paul Mattison turned what appeared a wayward cross in to his own goal and changed the pattern of the game.  Liversedge, clearly lifted by the incident began to play some excellent football and began opening gaps in the home defence as a crestfallen Welfare were forced on to the back foot..  The quick thinking Whitehead lifted Welfare, almost finding an empty net with a 45 yds shot after Sutcliffe had ventured well out and miscued.

Although the second period began with the teams all square Liversedge very soon took the lead, a combination of woeful defending and hesitancy by the Welfare keeper allowing Craig Farrand the space and time to drive in from close range and score what ultimately proved to be the winning goal on 50 minutes.  Welfare came back strongly but Danny King, after being put clear and getting in to a good position hit an aimless shot wide, and from a corner kick Simon Brooker connected sweetly with a volley only for the shot to pass across goal and to safety. Although the game was end to end in to the final stages neither team were able to find the breakthrough and Welfare could count themselves unfortunate not to share the spoils.

Welfare will need to pull out all the stops for their visit to league leaders Buxton next Saturday.

Team:  Ian Philiskirk, Mark Newton, Chris Miller (Darren Lech), Simon Brooker, Karl Jankowicz, Paul Mattison, Adam Sadler, Gareth Liversedge, Graham Whitehead, Daniel Davidson (Alex Higgins), Danny King