Season 07-08 : Northern Counties East League : Match Report

HALL ROAD RANGERS  2  -  1  TEVERSAL Prepared by Kevin Newton

HALL ROAD RANGERS - Hill, Moulds, Farley, Harper, Baker, Brennan, Walker (Carline 86), McGarry, Dransfield (Shilletto 80), Barnwell, McIntyre Subs Not Used – Garth.

TEVERSAL - Weston, Tighe, Townroe (Pascoe 41), Holmes, Short G., Giles, Carter (Short D. 60), Scott, Woodcock, Walker, Hudson (Thorpe 65) . Subs Not Used – All Used.

REFEREE - Mr S. Hawkins from Barnsley.

MAN OF MATCH - Hall Road Rangers – Chris Hill, Teversal – Alex Weston.

ATTENDANCE - 35

"DISAPPOINTING TEVIE" Teversal lost ground at the top of the table with a disappointing performance at Dene Park, something that is becoming a bit of a habit, with the Tevie Boys failing to pick up a single point in the three visits made there since being promoted to Northern Counties East League. It looked like Teversal would buck the trend when an opening 15 minutes had Hall Road on the back foot with Ritchie Walker scoring after 5 minutes to put the visitors in control. The goal was an excellent effort too, Tighe playing a neat ball into Hudson who’s first touch lay off into Walker for the striker to fiercely fire home from 18 yards out. Chris Hill making his first start in the home goal had to be alert and made no fewer than four good blocks to save the blushes of the home defence after the visitors had created half chances. This was best highlighted on 12 minutes when another patient Teversal move saw Carter breaking clear only to have the angle cut down by Hill and then the Hall Road custodian spread himself to make a stunning save. Teversal were made to pay for not capitalising on their early dominance, when Holmes lost his footing when trying to intercept a through ball that allowed McGarry a clear run at goal to calmly finish past the advancing Teversal debut keeper Alex Weston to level the scores at 1-1 on 18 minutes. A moment of total controversy followed a minute later that was to change the game and award the three points to the home side when you can only explain that Jamie Barnwell conned the referee to gain a penalty. The Hall Road striker pushed the ball to far ahead of himself with Holmes tracking back and the experience striker simple ran across the Tevie defenders path and went to ground for the totally incompetent referee to award the spot kick that was dually scored by McGarry. The awarding of the penalty was luckily the only costly error from a referee performance that simply was not good enough for this level of football. The whistle happy official simply wanted to be the star of the show, and the fact the game wasn’t allowed to flow made him that, well, everyone was focused on him anyway. The game certainly opened up and became more even with both sides creating chances, both Barnwell and McGarry were denied by Weston in the Teversal, as the young keeper made his mark on the game after being shell shocked after conceding two quick goals. The Tevie Boys thought they had pulled level after another neat move saw Carter deliver a quality cross that was met by a powerful Giles header that looked destined for the bottom corner, but Hill produced yet another stunning save to preserve the Rangers lead into the break. The continued needless interference of the man in black became a frustration to both sides, but certainly suited the home side’s style of play of getting players behind the ball to defend in numbers then use the pace of Barnwell and McGarry to hit the visitors on the break. Hall Road could and possible should have finished the game off on numerous occasions, but 18 year old Weston produced a catalogue of excellent saves to keep the Tevie Boys in with a chance of resurrecting something out of a game their performance for 70 minutes simply didn’t deserve. With only two chances of note for the visitors in the second period tells it’s own story, especially when the first came from a bizarre attempted clearance by the Rangers midfielder Adam Walker who forced his own keeper to make an excellent save at the foot of the post when the 18 yard box attempted clearance went horribly wrong. Then an 82nd minute free kick from Tighe found Ritchie Walker unmarked at the far post but the striker failed to hit the target and any chance of a reprieved went with it.  Teversal will hope to recover quickly when on Wednesday evening a trip to Scunthorpe sees them take on Bottesford Town in the Wilkinson Sword Trophy semi-final, leaving Carnarvon Street at 5.15pm. The eagerly waited local derby then follows this when Rainworth Miners Welfare are the visitors to Carnarvon Street, with a 3.00pm kick off.