Lye Town 2 v 1 Coleshill Town

First Team Match Reports 2014-2015

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Lye Town 2 v 1 Coleshill Town

Postby Alan Beckett » Sun Mar 22, 2015 11:07 am

Saturday 21st March 2015
Midland Football League Premier
Lye Town 2 v 1 Coleshill Town
Scorers:
Lye: Craig Gregg, Richard Anslow.
Town: Shane Benjamin.
Attendance: 118.
Opposition Player Of The Match: James Spray (Lye) Luke Edwards (Coleshill)


SUNDAY MERCURY WROTE
Coleshill Fail To Add Pressure On Basford
Lye Town dented Coleshill's promotion hopes with a 2-1 win which sees Basford United pull further clear at the top. With just three points separating Coleshill and the league leaders before kick-off, a victory at third-placed Lye would have been a huge bonus. But the hosts, who were also looking to keep their chances of promotion alive, seemed determined to spoil their day as they opened the scoring inside the opening ten minutes. Ricky Anslow passed to Craig Gregg who skilfully lofted the ball over keeper Chris Jay and into the back of the net. This was how it stayed until four minutes after the break when Coleshill found a response, with a superb free kick from Shane Benjamin. But just when Town looked to kick on in the second half they suffered a blow. After being brought down in the box, Anslow dispatched a penalty. Coleshill came close to levelling matters when a Benjamin header hit the upright, but Lye managed to hang on thanks to some impressive goalkeeping from Damien Stevens.


An unbeaten run of fourteen league games, 18 in all competitions, stretching back over three months, came to an end as Lye did the "double" over Coleshill, with a disputed penalty the difference between the sides. This was a blood and thunder contest with two physical and determined sides that gave their all right til the end, with Town finishing with a front four as they desperately pushed for an equaliser!

Coleshill had already had a couple of chances through Jacob Wright and Deqwon Ebanks before the home team took the lead on 9 minutes with their first meaningful attack. Craig Gregg somehow found himself free of the normally dependable Town defence and as Chris Jay came rushing out of his area, Gregg lobbed the visitors keeper and into an empty net. Ebanks blocked a clearance which nearly crept into the net, Shane Benjamin headed a corner on to the roof of the net, then Benjamin fed Ebanks whose goalbound shot was excellently saved by Damien Stevens in the home goal. A training ground corner saw my man of the match Ben Jevons head just wide of the far post. Ebanks and Benjamin combined again with the latter having a goalbound shot blocked. Williams cleverly fed Gregg who in turn passed to Spray who side footed over the bar from a great position. Benjamin had another shot blocked as the home defence dove in front of anything that looked dangerous. The half ended with Jones putting in a speculative cross/shot that had Jay scrambling but the ball landed on the roof of the net.
Half Time Lye 1 Coleshill 0

Coleshill started the second half in the ascendancy! Tom Weale shot straight at Stevens then clever inter-play between Benjamin, Ebanks and Weale saw the latter took out about 25 yards directly infront of the goal. Benjamin casually passed the ball round the wall and into the corner of the net on 47 minutes with the keeper stranded. This was Benjamin's 28th league goal, and 36th goal in all, which equals the club record. There was no doubt that Town were on top at this point and must have been favourites to go on to win the game but no-one told the home team as the game opened up into an end to end contest. On 55 minutes Rob Evans was sheparding a harmless looking ball out for a goal kick but Richard Anslow wouldn't give it up! Anslow went to ground and the Assistant Referee indicated a penalty! Now I would love to see a replay but a free kick for obstruction, possibly, a yellow card for diving, maybe but a penalty, harsh, very very harsh! Anslow made no mistake with the spot kick for his 31st goal of the season! With defeat staring them in the face Coleshill upped the ante! A Weale long throw was headed onto the post by Danny Douglas, Craig Milligan hit a dipping shot that just went over the bar. A Rob Evans long throw came out to Weale who hit a thunderous shot that again was blocked by a diving defender. Simeon Cobourne went down in the box and was screaming for a penalty but non was given. In reply Mitchell shot straight at Jay. The best chance fell to Ricky Cutting as he was sent clear from a double flick on by Benjamin and Cobourne but he chose to shoot early and his effort went well wide, a great great opportunity! With time running out Manager Paul Casey went for a front four who had over 60 goals between them this season but the home defence held firm and when Danny Douglas got in a firm header Stevens was there to make another great save!

The run is over and there is now daylight for leaders Basford, but all is not over! If Town play with this determination for the remainder of the season there is still a chance they could catch United and there is also a little matter of a League Cup Semi Final to think about!

Teams:
Lye: Damien Stevens, Dan Jones, Mathew Johnson, Bradley Smith, Max Bissell, Simon Williams, Craig Gregg, Scott Gennard, James Spray, Richard Anslow, Ben Jevons. Subs Kevin Nickle, Andrew Mitchell, Elliot Davies, Jamie Haynes, George Rogers.


Town: Chris Jay, Leon Weller, Rob Evans, Luke Edwards, Danny Douglas, Danny Tymon, Tom Weale, Craig Milligan (Mykel Beckley), Shane Benjamin, Deqwon Ebanks (Simeon Cobourne), Jacob Wright (Ricky Cutting). Subs not used Dean Rathbone, Oliver Casey.

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