[JonInMiddleGA]

April 21, 2012 (morning)
Our U18's drew 2-2 with Histon at Croft Park. Hassan Janneh scored at 24' to draw us level, Tom Seery put us in front at 53' but they answered at 55'

April 21, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (2nd, 23-6-10) at Vauxhall (9th, 15-14-11)

First meeting came at home with a disappointing 2-0 loss the result. They scored twice in the first 30' and then shut us down. We'll have to play much better to get points today. At the moment they still have the slimmest chance for a playoff spot, trailing Droylsden by 5 with two matches left but realistically there are probably too many teams for them to leap to make it. We catch them with their leading scorer, David Nwaogu (9 goals) sitting out a 2 match red card suspension. That probably accounts for us being 4:6 favorites today

We'll go 4-4-2 Defensive to start, not sure how long we can stay in that however since we obviously struggled to score against them the first time.

GK - Knight
D: Kendrick - Jones - D'Laryea - Sinclair
MF: Phillips - Matondo - Groves - Vipond
F: Mole - Armstrong
(Available: Slaughter, Sawyer, Hooks, Chinthengah, Hartley)

2:46 - Phillips with an outswinging corner played for Jones ... GOAL !!! (1-0) a flying start with a header right through the keeper's hands

29:18 - Vipond with a steal & a beautiful long ball for Mole ... he lobs ... just wide
33:42 - Mole with space, a right footer ... it trickles wide right
34:58 - Mole in the area from Matondo ... shoots it high & wide, was offisde anyway

Halftime - A 5-1 edge in shots makes this one feel easier than it might have actually been. If Mole was on target the lead would be bigger, simple as that.
I just tell the team to keep it up, but I flip flop Mole & Armstrong positions up front.

56:13 - Lamb takes a header off a corner ... it's high & harmless

64:12 - We block a free kick, concede a corner ... Cleared easily by Matondo ... we switch to Counter

80:00 - Sub Chinthengah for Armstrong (tiring), Sawyer for Groves (tiring), switch back to Defensive

85:57 - Wright with a free kick from the arc ... it's off the woodwork & Sawyer heads the rebound clear

89:00 - 3 mins of extra time ... 89:39 Mole tracks down a deep ball, plays it back out to Sawyer, back to Mole ... he's offside ... 92:33 Chinthengah earns a corner after being tackled nicely inside the box ...

Fulltime - The coaches are upset & want me to rip the team, but looking at the ratings I can't do that in good conscience. It wasn't pretty but it was three badly needed points. Nothing seems right & for the first time ever I skip the overall pep talk. I praise the back line for winning us the match and leave the rest alone. Hopefully they're professionals & understand our situation, although I'd like to have beaten a team that hasn't won in 8 games by more than 1-0.

Knight 6.7
Kendrick 7.0, Jones(MOM) 8.2 & 1 goal, D'Laryea 7.0, Sinclair 7.4
Phillips 6.9 & 1 assist, Matondo 6.8, Groves 6.9, Vipond 6.9
Mole 6.4, Armstrong 6.7
Subs: Sawyer/Chinthengah N/A

April 21, 2012 (post-match)
Workington unexpectedly earns a draw with Nuneaton, so we're both at 81 points with a match to play. We're dead on GD, they're +46, we're +26, so we're going to need some help in the final week.

Bishop's Stortford clinches the 4th spot with a 3-1 win over Corby, Histon beat Eastwood 4-2 to lock up 3rd. Droylsden managed a 1-1 draw with Hinckley, keeping them in 5th place at the moment with Corby, FC Halifax, and Hinckley all 3 points behind. Droylsden has the worst GD (+4), Corby is +17, Halifax is +6, Hinckley is +5 so any of them has a shot next week.

At the opposite end of the table Gloucester upset Stalybridge 1-0, climbing into 19th place a point ahead of Eastwood. Guiseley & Boston Utd are both assured of relegation now 4 points from climbing out.