Beeston St. Anthony's 0 v Carlton Athletic 2 - West Yorkshire League Premier Division

Saturday 26th May 2018
West Yorkshire Association Football League
Premier Division
at Kingfield, St Anthony's Road, Beeston, Leeds
Beeston St. Anthony's (0) 0
Carlton Athletic (1) 2
Liam Moore 36
Ben Bodel 81
Admission free but I put £5 into the donations box
Attendance 112 (approx. headcount)
Photo gallery link part 1 LINK
Photo gallery link part 2 LINK

Beeston St. Anthony's:

Stevie Kerr (C), Max Halmshaw, Dan Daly, Joe Hill, Tyrell Phillips, Callum Hill, Matty Waller, Callum Woodhouse, Kingsley Wetherald, Kristen Williams, Joe Wood.

Subs - Sean Jeavons, Steve Crawford, Sam Morrell

Carlton Athletic:

Jon Gardiner, Dan Chadwick, Luke Oldroyd, Sam Graham, Joe O'Neill (C), Joe Kenny, Scott Burns, Ben Bodel, Liam Moore, Andrew Payne, Annes Younis,

Subs - Dan Benson, Charlie Thompson, Kris Robertson, Nathan Kemp

This afternoon's game was billed as a championship decider; but to all intents and purposes, Carlton Athletic couldn't realistically have been caught at the top of the table (see below) anyway.
Because even if they were to have lost by an unlikely margin of 19-0, to finish the season level on goal difference at the top of the table, they would still have been crowned as West Yorkshire Association Football League Premier Division champions, on account of having scored more goals than second placed Leeds City.

WYL Premier Division table before kick off

So although this was a very enjoyable and lively encounter, on a sunny and slightly breezy afternoon in Leeds; unless Beeston St.Anthony's won by a twenty goal margin, the outcome to the 2017-18 league campaign was already done, dusted and fairly academic.
The Saints are obviously a very good side, but nobody expected them to score every four and a half minutes on average, while keeping a clean sheet at the other end.

Especially when they have a League Cup Final coming up on Wednesday, against Leeds City at the WYAFL headquarters ground at Woodlesford. Kick off 7.30PM, postcode LS26 8NX if you're interested in attending what should be an intriguing game, between the league's second and third placed teams.
If I can possibly get on the move early enough, I'll be at Woodlesford myself.

Coincidentally, Beeston beat Carlton 3-2 in their League Cup semi final which was played at Altofts FC just over three weeks ago, but lost on penalties against today's opposition in the Leeds Senior Challenge Cup, after drawing three apiece at Bracken Edge (Yorkshire Amateur FC) last month... and also went down 3-1 at Carlton's Town Street ground back in January.

It was the Saints who started on the front foot, looking to make tracks deep into Carlton territory via the right channel through the persistent running of Matty Waller, but his first mazy dribble was thwarted by Joe O'Neill's blocking tackle and his angled shot at the end of the second, cleared Jon Gardiner's crossbar. 

Realising that the 'team from the Rhubarb Triangle*' were getting wise to his forward raids, Waller switched play towards Kingsley Wetherald out on the left, but Danny Chadwick read the situation well and broke up the attack with a timely interception.

Having got their bearings, Carlton started to move up through the gears and almost took the lead via an slice of luck, when Chadwick's long free kick delivery into the Beeston area skimmed off of Tyrell Phillips head, Stevie Kerr, the hosts goalkeeper and captain, managed to pluck the ball to safety from under his bar.

Liam Moore nudged the ball past Phillips and shrugged off his challenge before crossing to Scott Burns, whose half volley from twelve yards was blocked by Kristen Williams.

The visitors went close again, when Andy Payne threaded a diagonal pass through to Ben Bodel, who feigned a run away from goal, before turning sharply and rolling the ball just wide of the right hand post.

Carlton were enjoying a good spell of pressure now; Moore flicked a near post header from Chadwick's right wing throw, from level with the penalty spot, no more than a lick of paint wide of the left hand upright, before Annes Younis played a cross-field pass to Burns, who did well to hold off the attentions of both Phillips and Dan Daly before pulling the ball back to Payne, but the Athletic number ten's first time shot cleared the bar.
Younis cut in from the left channel from Bodel's first time ball forward, but his shot was turned round the post by Kerr. From the resulting corner, Moore's downward header was diverted wide of the post by Daly.

Williams tried to get Beeston's momentum going again, with two battling runs forward, but found Luke Oldroyd to be in a fairly uncompromising mood as he nicked the ball away in the Carlton area, before O'Neill earned himself a yellow card for a sliding lunge on Williams thirty yards from the visitors goal.

The ever dangerous looking Younis advanced towards the Beeston goal from the left hand side of the area and before the Saints defence could shackle him, unleashed a skidding shot across the face odd goal that bounced just past the right stick.

Chadwick sent a left wing corner into Beeston's six yard box, that Moore got a touch to, but Kerr somehow managed to contort himself and scoop the goal bound ball off the line and up in the air (below) and his defence finished the job off when it came back down.

Nine minutes before the interval, the visitors pressure finally paid off, when Younis put a cross in from the left that Moore met with a downward header into the bottom right hand corner of the hard working Kerr's goal.

Credit where it's due though, because having gone behind, Beeston dusted themselves down and made a serious attempt to get back in the game and launched a wave of attacks on their own, through Joe Wood on the left flank, but the visitors aren't league champions for nothing and their defence closed ranks to protect their single goal lead until half time.
HT: Saints 0 v Athletic 1
Carlton re-emerged from their dressing room and set about trying to finish the game off.
That man Younis was in the thick of it again, but his well struck effort was blocked and when the ball fell to Bodel, he had no time to bring it under control because of the presence of Phillips and subsequently put a rushed attempt on goal a fraction over the bar.

Callum Hill headed clear at full stretch as Bodel challenged for yet another quality delivery from out on the left by Younis, but the ball fell once again to the live-wire Carlton number eleven, who was denied by another good stop by Kerr (above) and as Bodel pounced on the rebound, Daly got a touch and the ball rolled out of play for the relative safety of a corner.
I hardly need to say who delivered a left wing cross moments later for Carlton, clue: his initials are AY, but as Moore headed the ball down into the Beeston goalmouth, Phillips put his foot through it to clear the danger and earn his team some respite.
Just before the hour, the home side were reduced to ten men when Wetherald obviously hadn't noticed how close the referee was when he went into a challenge with his elbow up.

As so often happens, having gone a man light, the hosts upped their game, but this was obviously not going to be their day, when Waller won the ball out on the left and sprinted thirty yards towards the Athletic goal before crashing his shot against Williams who was running alongside him in tandem.
Callum Woodward was presented with an opportunity to equalise from (C) Hill's measured knock forward, but Oldroyd blocked his shot.
Wood picked up the ball out on the left and with everyone expecting a cross, let fly with a shot from twenty yards that Gardiner did well to keep out.
Carlton... and Bodel in particular, were still chipping away at a Beeston defence, who were digging in beyond the call of duty.

Ironically it was a mistake from Kerr, who had performed heroics at times today, that gifted Carlton the opportunity to put the result beyond doubt, inside the final ten minutes, when he rushed out of his area to head the ball clear, but missed it completely, which left Bodel clean through with an unguarded net to aim at and he made no mistake from just outside the area.

There was no way back for Beeston whose brave resistance was to be all in vain, even though Charlie Thompson forced Gardiner into making a timely save four minutes before the end, to deny the Saints an opportunity of setting up a grandstand finish.

FT: Besston St. Anthony's 0 v Carlton Athletic 2

Beeston had performed very credibly and with a little more look on their side, might not have finished the game empty handed... it was an admirable effort on their part to say that a few youngsters turned out, with several first picks resting their weary bones in advance of Wednesday's cup final.

But Carlton showed their championship class for long spells and without the unstinting efforts of the home defence and the massive input made by the Saints keeper Stevie Kerr, then the damage could've been far worse.

In closing: congratulations to Carlton Athletic on winning the West Yorkshire League Premier Division title.

And good luck to Beeston St. Anthony's in the League Cup Final on Wednesday. 

*Incidentally, in spite of what you might believe, rhubarb is not a type of fruit; it is, in actual fact, a root vegetable.