Thursday 9 March 2017

Worksop Town 0 v Retford United 3 - WVH NMU19L North

Thursday 9th March 2017
Worksop Van Hire North Midland U19 League
at the Windsor Foodservice Stadium
Worksop Town (0) 0
Retford United (2) 3
Liam White 22, 49
Callum Amendola 27
Admission £2. Programme 20p
Attendance 92
Thanks to Russ Dodd for the line up details etc.
A convincing win for the young Badgers, saw them leapfrog over both Worksop Town and Chesterfield, to move off of the bottom of the table for the first time this season.
Both sides had early penalty appeals waved away, for challenges on the Tigers' Owen Clarke and Retford's Zach Casburn.
Jake Padley played the ball into the path of Mason Gee on the edge of the visitors goal area but Adam Hicks came off his line and mt the ball before Gee could gt his shot away.
Play switched to the opposite end of the pitch, to where Liam White met a long ball into Worksop's goalmouth with a looping header that dropped over the head of Eddie Birch, to give Retford the lead in this 'Bassetlaw derby' in the twenty second minute.
The visitors doubled their lead shortly afterwards, when Liam Bennett threaded the ball into the path of Callum Amendola, who spanked an unstoppable shot past Birch from eighteen yards. It was a quality strike that the home side's keeper could've done very little about.
Both teams had good chances to score before the break, with Padley striking the ball against the foot of the post from Clarke's lay off, while Birch pulled off a great save, moments before half time from White, to stop United racking up a three goal half time lead.
Four minutes after the restart, Birch was left stranded, as White raced into his area, nudged the ball past the exposed Tigers keeper and ran on to roll the ball into the unguarded net.
Tigers U19
Effectively, White's second (and Retford's third) goal had killed the game of as a contest, and although both sides had their moments, particularly after the impressive looking Igor Mylnarski had come on for the Tigers in the second half.
Louis Colley, the Worksop number three, made a goal line clearance, but unfortunately for the home side, he couldn't get out of the way of Mason Gee's shot after he had slotted a shot past Hicks from a tight angle and actually prevented the Tigers from pulling a goal back.
Ryan Hurcombe also went close for Worksop, but Hicks got down well to turn the ball around the upright... and the three points were destined to be leaving Sandy Lane in a due easterly direction towards the sprawling metropolis of Retford.
The best team won. But player development is the main thing in this particular league.
Badgers U19
Worksop Town U19 travel to Swallownest next Thursday and Retford United U19 head to Sheffield FC the following night.
And these two sides face each other at Sandy Lane again on Thursday 13th April.
FT: Worksop Town U19 0 v Retford United U19 3
My 150th game of the 2016-17 season... how sad a statistic is that!?