OSSETT ALBION 1 – 0 DROYLSDEN

EvoStik NPL Division One (North)

Saturday 19 September 2015

BY GARY OWEN

Albion gained revenge for their FA Cup exit at the Butcher’s Arms a week earlier, but did so by the narrowest of margins.  Indeed, the score line does not reflect a dominant first half for the hosts, who should have gone into the break with a considerable lead, but those missed chances gave Droylsden hope after the break – however, time was almost up before Dave Pace’s charges recorded their first shot on target, and even missed an injury time penalty to boot.

Craig Ellison was forced into early action to save from the dangerous Connor Bower at his near post, but the hosts too the lead on 13 minutes when Adam Jones was able to chest the ball home from corner kick.  Bower then had two further efforts saved by Ellison, and a third strike go too high as the Droylsden goal began to lead a charmed life.

Bower had two more off target strikes before Eddy Birch saw a shot fly just inches wide, before Nicholas Matthews almost caught Ellison napping with a long range lob.

Droylsden did improve after the break – but on their first half performance that was not too difficult – but Daniel Grimshaw still had to head clear off his own line to prevent th hosts from doubling their lead.

Shaquille Clarke-Adams tried his luck for the Bloods, but it was a yard wide of the mark, and Brandon Zibaka registered a header on target with two minutes remaining, but it was a routine save for the untroubled Brett Souter.

Droylsden did get an unexpected lifeline in added time, when a probing run by Fernando Moke ended up with Daniel Douglas-Pringle being upended in the box, but Souter saved a poor penalty from Moke to cap a truly awful day at the office for the Butcher’s Arms boys.

It is regrettable to say, but more performances like this mean it will be a long and hard winter ahead.

OSSETT ALBION:    Souter, Nicholson, Hardaker, Wright, Riordan, South, Muller, Jones, Matthews, Birch, Bower (Bordman, 76’).  Subs. not used – Garrick, Thompson, Dawson.

DROYLSDEN:           Ellison, Haynes, Grimshaw, O’Brien (Ting, 48’), Wood, Sharry, Pino (Moke, 67’), Clarke-Adams, Bell (Webber, 57’), Zibaka, Douglas-Pringle.  Subs. not used – Hasler-Gregg, Mullen.

Referee:                                 Mr. Gareth Rhodes (York)    Attendance:               118

Category: Match Reports