Leicester Struggle As Southwell Ease To Victory…
Southwell City 3-0 Leicester St Andrews
The Mowdog’s thoughts…
A large ‘groundhop’ crowd gathered at the Centenary Ground in Brinkley to see City dominate their opponents in an encounter which wasn’t an eye-catcher by any means. St Andrews really did struggle throughout the contest, managing only two proper attempts at goal, one a deflection wide off replacement Ben Osei when home goalie Alex Smith’s fly-kick from outside the 18 yard box struck the Leicester man, whilst the other was a vicious shot by midfielder Kaden Stokes, which floored City defender Blair Bryant.
Otherwise, although driven on by Tom Hill, their, er, combative skipper, the guests lacked the guile and skills on the day to worry Southwell, who didn’t have to play particularly well to claim the victory.
In truth, visiting ‘keeper Luke McAdam kept the score down with several saves and City should have won the match by a larger margin.
However, the atmosphere was strange, for during many periods of the game there was barely any noise at all from the majority of the spectators, who looked somewhat ‘hopped out’ after the games they had witnessed since Friday evening.
There was a lot of scruffy football on view and errors were regularly made but Southwell rose above the mediocrity to convert the three goals which ensured a deserved victory.
Leicester’s players…
Apart from McAdam, the tall and lean central striker Matt Collison made himself available throughout the game but lacked support from his under-pressure colleagues and wasn’t offered the service he needed to make his mark effectively. Hill was usually noticeable however, although he was involved in a wrestling match with City skipper Chris Bowles, leading to a rolling over together, which precipitated several other players getting involved too. Interestingly, both players were cautioned but when Hill conceded a penalty during the largely untidy second period, it was a slight surprise that the harassed referee didn’t offer up a second yellow card to the Leicester skipper…
Defenders James Neale, Marco Henry and Nathan Merrikin were simply overworked at times but all were industrious and committed.
The Zebras…
Central defenders Brad Peace-McDonald and Bryant were very strong throughout, whilst left-back Max Cariata was a lively, rapid and resourceful performer. Bowles controlled the midfield areas, having several brushes with Hill, who actually took a dislike to Southwell’s very decent winger Chris Okoye. Bowles was capably supported by Will Stocks, whose set-pieces were usually accurate.
Forwards Cam Law and Ben Selby both had good moments, whilst midfielder Ryan Hlabangana displayed several creative moments.
Right-back A J Cook made a number of forward runs too, only adding to the dominance enjoyed by his team.
The close things…
Before the recess, Bryant’s powerful header from a Stocks delivery flew just too high, McAdam tipped Okoye’s lifted effort and also Law’s free-kick from downtown over his crossbar, whilst a close range Law header fell past the right stick.
After the interval, Selby’s low drive was saved smartly by the advancing McAdam, who then dived to keep out a decent shot by Okoye. Finally, Peace-McDonald drove a low effort against the foot of the left upright…
The goals which won the match…
A right-wing rush and low cross by Okoye assisted Law to net an early first goal. Unfortunately for Leicester’s Jake Warren, his hurried, awkward kick-away rolled just a couple of yards to Law, who booted the ball into the net from 6 yards.
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| 1-0... |
Goal two stemmed from a left-flank Stocks free-kick. The in-swinging right-footer forced a downward header into the net at the far post by Peace-McDonald.
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| 2-0... |
When Hill conceded the penalty, it had to be his wrestling opponent Bowles who took the spot-kick and subsequently the City skipper fired a low left-footer into the bottom right corner of the net…
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| 3-0... |
The final words…
Thanks to Southwell for the kind welcome and I guess that manager Jonny Upton can’t now consider me a bad luck omen for his team…
Southwell did well to put on a good show for the ‘hoppers’, who all disappeared to Newark for their next match, as soon as the final whistle blew.
I drove home to Solihull but as I did so, I couldn’t help thinking about Okoye, whose forward runs had often been enjoyable to witness and despite some words nattered at him late on by Hill, he didn’t react at all…
The images...
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| HAWKINS HAS SINNED & IS THUS BINNED... |
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| HALL & OKOYE... |
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| HAWKINS PLODS OFF, FED UP... |
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| LAW LOOKS SURROUNDED... |
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| THE TOSS... |
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| SOMEONE MIGHT WANT TO TRY MODELLING... |
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| HALL & BOWLES ARE CLOSE AGAIN... |
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| A HUDDLE OF ZEBRAS... |
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| COLLISON (9): TIRELESS FOR ST ANDREWS... |
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| A WORD FOR BOWLES... |
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| HAWKINS IS ABOUT TO BE BINNED FOR 10 MINUTES... |
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| SHUSHED APPEALS... |
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| THE WRESTLERS... |
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| LAW: FORAGED THE OPENING GOAL... |
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| OKOYE, LEFT: SOME SMART DRIBBLES... |
