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27 January 2007

Late goal denies seconds

Coalville Town 2nd XI  2  Northampton Lions 2nd XI  2

DTZ 2nd XI East Midlands Division One

In what promised to be a cracking top of the table clash, Town’s second string could not quite live up to their recent performances, as they ground out a disappointing draw in what turned out to be a bad tempered and substandard match.

  Initially, with Phil Sign and Stuart Jobburn combining well in the middle, the game was fairly even as the two sides probed each other looking for any defensive weakness that might appear, however both sets of forwards squandered the early chances that came up. 

However the early pressure paid off with Town winning a penalty corner after 12 minutes, and from a well worked routine, Sign slipped the ball to Chris Vernon who smashed home the first goal from an acute angle. 

Not to be outdone, Lions came storming back and some enterprising play down the right flank caught Town out of position at the back. However when the ball came across the dee, Ian Wright, who looked to have covered the situation, lost control of the ball allowing a Lions forward to tap home a simple goal from 2 yards out.

The rest of the half was scrappy and some ill discipline crept into the game and it seemed that both sides were more interested in keeping the opposition at bay rather that trying to take hold of the game. 

Few chances came Town’s way, despite their pressure, and those that did were surrendered too easily. Town’s defence was hardly having to break sweat and Joel Barker in the Town goal rarely saw the ball as a danger.

Turning round all square, it was more of the same as the second half started, as Town struggled to get out of gear. Although they were seeing more of the play than their opponents, the constant changing of substitutes did nothing to push their play up a level, in fact it seemed to make it even worse. 

Nevertheless their early pressure paid off when another superb penalty corner routine saw the ball slipped to Sign whose shot at goal was deflected home by Vernon to give them a deserved lead.

Northampton eventually came out of their shell as they tried desperately to get back into the game, and their midfield briefly got hold of the play only to see shots either go wide, or find Carl Marshall at the back, who was again having a strong game.  

With tempers fraying as the final minutes approached, Town succumbed to the ultimate of sucker punches. Instead of holding numbers firm at the back, they were caught upfield by a Lions breakaway and with two onto one, the ball found it’s way to an opposition forward who blasted a shot past the helpless Barker to give Northampton a share of the spoils and an undeserved point.

Although the draw keeps Town within three points of the leaders, they really need to pick up from where they left off before Christmas. However the season still has a long way to go which, on present form, should see them push for one of the top two spots for promotion.