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15/12/2007 VODKAT LEAGUE DIVISION TWO DARWEN 0 LEEK C.S.O.B. 2 Despite dominating play in this game, Darwen failed to capitalise due to both poor finishing and resolute defending by their opponents. Jason Jones, Richard Fogarty, Paul Crompton, Dennis Hill, and Joe Darwin were unavailable due to illness and injury, but Paul Mashiter was back, being given a midfield role by manager Wayne Watkins. The home side created their first chance after ten minutes. Martin Parkes won the ball in midfield and spotted the run of Reece Rowinski. The striker got in between two defenders and hit a dipping shot from twenty five yards, just clearing the cross-bar. Leek’s first clear chance emerged four minutes later, when Machin outpaced the home defence, and slotted the ball past the advancing Nathan Worrell in goal. The keeper had narrowed the angle enough, as the ball slid by the left post. Another ten minutes went by before Darwen created a good opportunity. The move started from Nathan Worrell, who found Chris Pearson. Pearson progressed into the Leek half, and then chipped a pass forward to Jon Stephenson. The striker opened up the away defence with a neat lay-off to onrushing Matt Haworth. It was a great opportunity to open the scoring, but the youngster’s strike from the edge of the area went well wide. The two players combined again after half an hour, with Haworth putting a great thirty yard cross from right to left and onto the head of Stephenson, whose effort went just over. After soaking up most of the pressure in the first half, the visitors took the lead three minutes before the break. They were awarded a free kick in their own half, and the ball found McMullen on the left wing. He raced down to the by-line, and put over a cross. Although unbalanced and falling, Machin managed to hook his left boot onto the ball, and it trickled into the left corner of the net, leaving keeper Worrell stranded. The home side came close to levelling the game just before the half time whistle. A Darwen throw from the left was hooked on by Jon Stephenson into the path of Reece Rowinski. His powerful shot was met with a splendid save by Deaville in the Leek goal, who just managed to tip away the ball for a corner. Half Time: Darwen 0 Leek CSOB 1 Deaville had to be alert a few minutes into the second half, when Matt Haworth got round the away side’s defence to punch in a low shot near the by-line. The keeper dived onto the strike just in time. He was called into action again a few minutes later to keep out a good effort from Dom Slaven. The home side were now stepping up the tempo with corners in quick succession. Only desperate defending by the visitors kept them in front. A one-two between Paul Mashiter and Matt Anderton ended with the skipper not quite getting enough power to his volley to trouble Deaville in goal. Mashiter then found new signing Rob Alleyne near the corner flag, and his cross reached Martin Parkes, who put a powerful header just wide. With most of the home side’s players now camped in the opponent’s half, striving to square the match, the inevitable happened with four minutes to go. The Leek defence booted a clearance into the Darwen half. Machin, who had been left up front as an outlet, managed to latch onto the ball and set off down the wing. With defenders desperately rushing back to cover, and Nathan Worrell moving off his line towards the edge of the area to try and cover, the striker decided the lob the ball from thirty yards out. It cleared the keeper and fell just inside the opposite corner of the Darwen net. In injury time, Martin Parkes went close with another header, but right on full time, another break by Leek saw Rowe put clear, but he blasted a good opportunity over the bar. Full Time: Darwen 0 Leek CSOB 2 ATTENDANCE: 75 REFEREE: N/A ASSISTANTS: N/A GOALS: Leek CSOB: Machin (42, 86) MAN OF THE MATCH: Leek CSOB: Michael Machin Darwen: Dom Slaven TEAMS: Leek CSOB 1. Gavin Deaville 2. John Chapman 3. Nick Lewis 4. John Loton 5. Peter Johnson 6. Robert Drummond 7. Jake Johnson 8. Darren Baker (Capt.) 9. Michael Machin 10. Gareth Rowe 11. Jimmy McMullen 12. Brett Barlow 14. Mitchell Shenton 15. Ricky Bridge Darwen 1. Nathan Worrell 2. Chris Pearson 3. Danny Finch 4. Matt Anderton (Capt.) 5. Martin Parkes 6. Paul Mashiter 7. Matt Haworth 8. Dom Slaven 9. Jon Stephenson 10. Reece Rowinski 11. Courtney Crooks 12. Paul Walker 14. Richmond Botchey 15. Jordan Hulme (replaced Slaven, 80 minutes) 16. John Dickinson (replaced Finch, 85 minutes) 17. Rob Alleyne (replaced Stephenson, 55 minutes) 15/12/2007 VODKAT LEAGUE DIVISION TWO DARWEN 0 LEEK C.S.O.B. 2 Comments of manager Wayne Watkins: We dominated the match for ninety minutes. We passed them off the park and competed in every area, but unless you get shots on target, you’re not going to win games. That was our downfall today. We passed and moved beautifully, but we need to be putting shots on target. After they scored, the next goal was going to decide who was going to win, but we were the victim of our own confidence by pressing for the equaliser and exposing ourselves slightly at the back. Their first goal may have seemed lucky, but it’s a striker’s instinct. He stuck out a foot and it went in. The second goal was due to us pushing for an equaliser and getting caught on the break. Despite the result, I was more than happy with the performance. If you did the stats, we probably had 60-70% of the possession, but we need to get strikes on target. We can’t walk the ball into the net. Rob Alleyne is a new player. I thought he had a good start. He’s a prolific goal scorer who has been the main striker for a Saturday non league side that’s played eleven and won eleven. So he’s got a good future, I think. Paul Mashiter is back from injury. I thought he had a great game. He played just in front of the midfield and behind the strikers, and he ran it there. He was looking to feed the strikers, but it wasn’t our day today. |
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The Anchor Ground, Anchor Road, Darwen, Lancashire. BB3 0BB
The Anchor Ground, Anchor Road, Darwen, Lancashire. BB3 0BB