Highgate United 0 v 3 Coleshill Town

First Team Match Reports 2008-2009

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Highgate United 0 v 3 Coleshill Town

Postby Alan Beckett » Wed Apr 01, 2009 3:55 pm

Tuesday 31st March 2009
Aspire Midland Football Alliance
Highgate United 0 v 3 Coleshill Town
Scorers: Matty Robinson, Ben Porter, Rob Evans.

It's always good to beat Highgate but this was Coleshill's best ever win on their patch! Town have only managed one win in the last eleven games against the Gate including three defeats last season. Bogey side! Not anymore!

The merry go round of players coming and going continues. Stuart Hendrie has gone to Alvechurch but Chris Charles has joined Jason Lanns to defect from Romulus. Scott Wells's international clearance has come through following his spell in America and Richard Davies plucked from Coventry football was on the bench.

The Gate pitch was hard and bobbly as you would expect at this time of the season, so both teams got it forward as quick as possible. Highgate's front two of Chris Gummery and ex Coleshill Town youth player Liam O'Shea worked tirelessly all night making Richard Munday and Chris Charles earn their corn. Scott Wells nearly made the dream start as he twice headed wide from good positions in the opening minutes. Courtney Walsh and Ben Porter saw shots go wide and a James Dance cross was punched clear by home keeper Perry Cox. The other Neil Kitching, Highgate's, cut inside and had a shot deflected for a corner and Alan Shimmon hit a dipping cross just over the bar. Cox came out of his area and headed clear, Matty Robinson tried to lob the ball in from distance but his effort went well off target. Coleshill applied pressure with Gate unable to clear their lines. Wells got into a great position again but the ball got caught under his feet at the vital moment but Coleshill's persistance paid off in the 24th minute. Dance hit a deep cross that Robinson got his head to, to send a looping effort for goal. Cox did the best he could but his palm only pushed the ball into the roof of the net. Robinson now on 24 league goals and back top of the pile. Highgate didn't lie down, they never do! And for the next 15 minutes they did everything but level the scores. A game of pin ball saw the ball squim up and over Chris Butler and hit the bar, Chris Gummery was on hand for the rebound but his effort again hit the woodwork. Luke Keen found himself free but his shot went wide, Kitching cut inside again but missed the target and Gummery had a great run into the penalty box but Tom Brady did really well to come over and cover and clear the danger.

The first action of the second half saw James Dance give the ball away allowing O'Shea a run at goal. His shot went across Butler and with Gummery coming in at the far post Lee Hunt did excellent work to sheppard the ball out for a goal kick. Highgate were pressing but Coleshill held firm and then increased the lead with a simple but well exucuted goal. From a Gate goal kick Wells returned the ball quickly and Ben Porter was away. The goal he got in the last minute against Friar Lane has eased the burden and he looked a different player as he confidently shot across the keeper and into the net for 2-0 on 51 mins. Steve Darlington headed goalward from a corner, Lee Hunt clearing off the line but the ball fell to Luke Edwards and he hit a rasping shot wide of the post. Shaw, Dance and Brady all shot at goal with Gummery replying, then Chris Charles made a great saving tackle as O'Shea shaped to pull the trigger. Coleshill made all three substitutions in the dying minutes and one of them, Rob Evans, got his first ever goal for the senior team. Courtney Shaw hit a low cross that seemed to evade everyone and Evans, a product of the youth and reserve team, came in at the far post to side foot the ball into the net.

A job well done, against difficult opposition who never gave up. Coleshill's up and down form continues with 354 minutes without a goal now being followed by 320 minutes without conceding, three wins in a row and 10 goals scored. Two very, very big games coming up next. Saturday home to third placed Boldmere and then seven days later a trip to runaway league leaders Market Drayton. Sometimes you just want the season to end and other times you want it to go on and on. With only six games left and finally hitting some form, for me it's definately the latter.

Martin Sockett said "It was a great result and a very good performance we both (Kitch and Sock) likened it to a proper southern league performance away on a midweek game winning three nil with a very energetic and stamina laiden performance with lots of quality from the grubby stuff of tracking runners, sticking your foot in and your head throwing your body on the line to block stuff all over the park as well as strong running on and off the ball good passing and good finishing. I hope we can keep this going and more importantly hope we can keep the players we are attracting to the club, the last 19 games have seen a massive improvement in the developement of the likes of Lee Hunt, Rob Evans, Steve Palmer, James Dance, Ben Porter continuing to get better and more confident, Tom Starkey showing his true worth too, we could have a real good side next year all things being equal".



Team: Chris Butler, Tom Brady (Rob Evans), Lee Hunt, Richard Evans, Chris Charles, James Dance, Scott Wells (Simon Volante), Jason Lanns, Ben Porter (Richard Davies), Matty Robinson, Courtney Shaw. Subs not used Tom Browett, Neil Kitching.

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