GLASSHOUGHTON WELFARE  3         GLAPWELL FC    0                   

WELFARE CONTINUED WITH THEIR NEW FOUND ZEST AND DETERMINATION TO KEEP ABOVE THE RELEGATION PLACES, AND ALTHOUGH SLIGHTLY FLATTERED BY THE FINAL SCORE LINE, WITH A THIRD CONSECUTIVE CLEAN SHEET, WERE MORE THAN WORTHY OF THE POINTS GAINED.

Welfare looked dangerous from the start, Marc Newton getting to the bye line but not delivering, and Danny King being halted somewhat unceremoniously when cutting clear, and although the visitors threatened briefly it was Welfare who deservedly opened the scoring, some excellent footwork by King taking him round a square defence to lay a perfect ball in the path of Ryan Harwood, the striker making no mistake from close range on nine minutes.  Welfare went close again when Steve Mallory hit in a couple of searching free kicks before zipping a shot across the face of goal.  Glapwell replied by pinning the home men back and were unfortunate not to level as three close range attempts were somehow blocked out in a jittery defensive spell.  Welfare replied by going the length of the field only for Mallory to drive well over

At the start of the second period Welfare were put under severe pressure by visitors who seemed determined to get level, but has the home men weathered the storm King failed to put away a clear cut chance from close range and was then denied by a brilliant save from keeper Louis Sprigg.  King continued to present a ponderous defence all sorts of problems and finally got reward, latching on to a jinking run by Mallory to outpace the defence and strike an unstoppable angled shot, which came of both the upright and crossbar to finish in the net and virtually give Welfare the spoils.

Welfare had a final ten minutes of virtually hanging on but in the closing moments Mallory stunned everyone in the ground, and particularly keeper Sprig, by hitting a fierce low free kick from all of 30yds direct in to goal, to put the icing on the cake for the jubilant home team. 

Team:  Lee Ashworth, Luke Williams (Jamie Thomson), Simon Collins, Simon Broker, Karl Jankowicz, Mark Newton (Leon Henry), Steve Mallory, Adam Sadler, Ryan Harwood, Gareth Liversedge, Danny King (Curtis Noble)