N C East Prem Div
Sat 24 Sept 2005
HALLAM 2 GLASSHOUGHTON WELFARE 2
ON THEIR VISIT TO REPUTEDLY THE OLDEST GROUND IN THE WORLD WELFARE
WERE LACKING STRIKERS AND ELECTED TO PLAY DEBUTANT CENTRE BACK ASHLEY BREWER ALONGSIDE RICHARD DOBSON UP FRONT.
Welfare
playing up a most pronounced slope were struggling to get started and the pace of the home front runners of Ian Askey and
Ryan Campbell were quickly exposing a sluggish defence and it came as no surprise when Welfare went behind following ten minutes
of play. Paul Mattison had seemingly saved the day with a last ditch tackle to
deny Louis Axcell but Hallam stayed on the offensive and when a cross was tamely headed in to the path of Troy Bennett the
final ball in found Campbell unmarked to head in from close range. With
the lively home forwards exploiting a square defence Welfare continued to struggle until the guile and probing of the hard
working Carl Fox hauled the visitors back in to contention, allowing the makeshift attack some sight on goal, both Andy Seed
and Darren Leech going close. As the interval approached Welfare had found their
feet and were matching the home men in an end to end contest and when the indomitable Fox was brought down on the edge of
the area Seed stepped up to place a perfect 20yds free kick in to the bottom corner to bring Welfare on level terms.
From the restart Welfare now coming down the slope appeared to have
the edge and were quickly on attack, Seed driving over and Brewer narrowly failing to turn in Mark Newton’s tantalising
cross. Hallam however still looked dangerous going forward and but for some woeful
finishing the visitors could easily have been behind. As it was with the game
looking all square Welfare took the when substitute Danny Lodge turned in an 83rd minute cross at the second attempt
but the joy was short lived as an unfortunate Welfare defensive error dropped fortuitously to Hallam's Campbell who hit a
first time low volley past the despairing Tom Morgan. In the closing moments
both sides had opportunity to take full points with Welfare,s Richard Dobson rueing possibly the miss of the match, but a
draw was perhaps a fair reflection of the game.
Team: Tom Morgan, Gareth
Liversedge, Julien Wilkes, Paul Mattison, Richard Stack, Darren Leach, Andy Seed, Ashley Brewer (Danny Lodge), Richard Dobson,
Carl Fox, Mark Newton (Jamie Thompson) Shaun Constable
