Crosshills FC; Lee Knox, Scott Newton, Stephen Throup, Todd Duncan, Ben Dewhirst, Duncan Steele, Darrell McDonald, Eddie Evans, Steve Brown, Andrew North & Sean Green.
Subs; Luke Wilson & ??? Jackson
After a fortnight ago when the Crosshills side lost embarrassingly 6-0 at home to Gargrave, the return fixture was always on their minds to put it right and to seal the three points. As usual, the reds took all the points the hard way as they don’t like to make things easy for themselves.
Only one change from last weekend’s win in the County Cup, Todd Duncan was making his 1st team debut partnering Throup in the centre of defence as Stuart Parkin was away sunning it up. The kick off was delayed AGAIN due to the hosts having a lack of players which meant they started with 10 and had to put their striker in goals. The game started at a good pace as the reds pressurised the Gargrave defence and part time goalkeeper to try and break the deadlock but to no avail.
Along came their 11th man to make the sides at least even in numbers but definitely not in chances. The home goalkeeper pulled off some great saves to deny Steve Brown who waltzed through their defence with ease only to see his initial shot saved then his follow up tipped around the post. In the first 45 minutes I cannot remember the Crosshills goalkeeper having to make any kind of save as the reds were dominant but just couldn’t find the back of the net. The sides went in on level terms at half time. The Crosshills team talk was basically keep it going and surely we’ll score.
The second half started with both teams realising that the game was theirs for the taking, Gargrave had a few chances coming from set pieces and then late on in the half there was a breakthrough but totally against the grain of who were playing the better football. The Gargrave striker found himself in the penalty box but heading away from goal and Crosshills defender Stephen Throup misjudged the tackle and brought him down for a stonewall penalty. If that wasn’t enough punishment, the referee gave him a second yellow card harshly and that was the end of the game for him.
Striker but part time goalkeeper for the day came all the way up to take the penalty only to see Lee Knox get down and push it clear. That great save let Crosshills off the hook as they needed to banish the thoughts of Gargrave being their bogey team and with some good build up play, position switches and the new addition of Luke Wilson they pushed on to get the win with 10 men.
Eddie Evans got the ball in the hosts’ penalty box and was clearly taken out leaving the referee no choice but to award another penalty but this time to the 10 men of Crosshills. It was dejavu as the first league game away to Oakworth ended in the same fashion as Andrew North stepped up and coolly slotted the ball into the net to snatch a 1-0 victory and a well-earned three points where anything less would have been undeserved.
Man of the Match was no debate, Todd Duncan was fantastic and everyone can see he’s going to be great centre back for years to come.
