[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 28, 2013 (afternoon)
Blyth (3-3-4, 13th BSBN) vs Hinckley (4-4-2, 7th BSBN)

We're 1-1-0 against them lifetime but we're surprisingly favored slightly (5:4) at home today against a club that appears to be a fair bit better than us. We'll be 4-4-2 Diamond Standard to start, would love to get at least a point here but most importantly I hope we come away healthy and in a decent state of mind with next week's very important FA Cup match against Harrogate looming.

GK: McDonald
D: Henderson, Jones, Williamson, Purvis
MF: Paratore, Whitaker, Ricketts, Clarke
F:Mutero, Cofie
Available Subs: (Groves, Sawyer, Clarke-Harris, N.Smith, Dovey)

1' - Henderson immediately gets a yellow card
9' - Jones with a free kick from about midfield ... long ball toward the area, Cofie runs onto it and fires ... GOAL ! (1-0)
33' - Paratore has to come off after a rough challenge leaves him knocked ... Sub Clarke-Harris on (Mutero to ML, Whitaker to AMC)
34' - Williamson's header off a free kick goes wide, our third empty net miss

Halftime: A decent half, 6-2 shot edge, 52% poss, neither team passing all that well (both <70%). We may need another individual effort goal like the first one in order to win this.

45' - Clarke-Harris with a breakaway from the kickoff, puts it right into the keeper's breadbasket
58' - We defend a dangerous corner into the box ... and Henderson promptly puts it in his own net (1-1). Sigh.
62' - Sub Groves for Henderson
76' - Sub Niall Smith for Mutero (6.1) ... move Whitaker to ML, switch to Attacking
84' - Cofie header ... GOAL ! (2-1) ... Great cross from Groves to make that happen, right on the edge of an offside call for Cofie, leaving Hinckley furious .... switch to Defensive
89' - 5 mins added time

Fulltime: Blyth 2 - Hinckley 1
This was all about Cofie delivering when the opportunities were there. Outshot them 9-5, had 51% of poss. but it was really all about Cofie burying both of his on-target shots (and 2/3 total shots).

McDonald 6.8
Henderson 5.1, Jones 7.1+1a, Williamson 7.6, Purvis 7.0
Paratore 6.8, Whitaker 6.8, Ricketts 6.9, Clarke 6.9
Mutero 5.9, Cofie (MOM) 8.8+2g
Subs: Clarke-Harris (34') 6.6, Groves (63') 6.9+1a, N.Smith (77') N/A

Sep 28, 2013 (postmatch)
The win moves us up to 10th place. And no report of any lingering health problems for Paratore despite his immediate departure from the match.

Meanwhile our supporters are happy with the signing of ST Jamal Branker to a youth contract through 2015.