Ilderton Wanderer
Well-known member
Not the prettiest win but a big three points. Cardiff started well and looked like they could give us trouble but it soon became obvious that they are severely lacking in quality. It wasn’t long before we started to get forward and a sharp low cross from Honeyman to Flemming who met it first time but put it past the post. Definitely a chance missed.
Soon after came the breakthrough when Cooper (I think) entered nose bleed territory and fed the ball into the area where the ever hard working Bradshaw managed to nip in between the hesitant Cardiff defender to poke the ball into the corner. Cue jubilant scenes from the 1300 lions fans in the corner. It looked like there was more to come.
Almost immediately our goal after Cooper took a heavy touch and got caught and it allowed Cardiff to break with a one on one. Out of nowhere came Hutchinson with a perfectly timed tackle to take us into half time with a precious one goal lead.
The second half resumed in much the same vein, lots of possession for the home side but lacking the nous to carve out chances. Our boys kept their shape and what we lacked in quality we made up for with sheer hard graft. Late on in the game Flemming broke into the area after wrestling off his marker and smartly back heeled the ball to the unmarked Shackleton who hit a poor shot straight at the keeper and the chance to put the game to bed was missed.
The fourth official held up the board for seven minutes of added time and it seemed like an eternity of long balls into our box before the ref blew up and the points were ours. Picking a man of the match is a tough one with lots of workmanlike performances but personally I thought Long was outstanding in dealing with the bombardment that came his way, especially in the last ten minutes or so.
All in all definitely a game to file under an ugly win but it sets us up well for a massive February. Keep the faith chaps we are still hanging on in there!
Soon after came the breakthrough when Cooper (I think) entered nose bleed territory and fed the ball into the area where the ever hard working Bradshaw managed to nip in between the hesitant Cardiff defender to poke the ball into the corner. Cue jubilant scenes from the 1300 lions fans in the corner. It looked like there was more to come.
Almost immediately our goal after Cooper took a heavy touch and got caught and it allowed Cardiff to break with a one on one. Out of nowhere came Hutchinson with a perfectly timed tackle to take us into half time with a precious one goal lead.
The second half resumed in much the same vein, lots of possession for the home side but lacking the nous to carve out chances. Our boys kept their shape and what we lacked in quality we made up for with sheer hard graft. Late on in the game Flemming broke into the area after wrestling off his marker and smartly back heeled the ball to the unmarked Shackleton who hit a poor shot straight at the keeper and the chance to put the game to bed was missed.
The fourth official held up the board for seven minutes of added time and it seemed like an eternity of long balls into our box before the ref blew up and the points were ours. Picking a man of the match is a tough one with lots of workmanlike performances but personally I thought Long was outstanding in dealing with the bombardment that came his way, especially in the last ten minutes or so.
All in all definitely a game to file under an ugly win but it sets us up well for a massive February. Keep the faith chaps we are still hanging on in there!
