Saturday 23rd February 2008
Away v Cheadle Town Lost 1 - 0
NWCL Reserve Division
Despite a couple of last minute absentees through
injury/sickness the Reserve squad travelled to lowly Cheadle in optimistic mood
despite last
weeks second half disasterous performance against Glossop NE bolstered by 4
players returning from first team squad duty Chris Brinksman, Karl McDonald,
Wayne Gore and Stu Norman.
The 1st half was pretty much evenly contested with LR back four looking in
control of anything Cheadle had to offer and LR always looking the more likely
to open the scoring with a number of promising breaks down both flanks but
unfortunately nobody was able to get on the end of the
crosses. With Stu Norman back to provide the link between midfield and last
minute striker Jason Gore drafted in upfront to provide the pace things looked
promising. That was until the 45th minute when a high tackle went unpunished and
for the first time in the game we switched off and were punished by clean strike
at the far post by the unmarked Cheadle striker.
Second half saw ALR throw everything at Cheadle who to their credit kept their
shape and restricted clear chances to a minimum although a couple of excellent
opportunities were not taken. The game became an increasingly bad tempered
affair with four LR players receiving Yellow cards and Cheadle letting
themselves down as well. In the end we could not find an equaliser despite all
the hard work and as we committed more players forward in search of an equaliser
you felt a Cheadle second was always possible on the break.
Despite the defeat on the day there were a number of plus points Defensively we
looked strong with all back four of Wes Edwards, Ryan Taylor,
Tom White and Karl Mc Donald all doing well. Great team spirit with everyone
working for the team. Obviously improvement is needed, five defeats in a row is
not good enough but I suppose some consolation in that four of those defeats
were against top four opposition
Team - Chris Brinksman, Wes Edwards, Ryan Taylor Capt, Tom White , Karl
Mc Donald, David Hill, Ben Hyde, Nock Kania Jason Gore, Stu Norman Jason Gore
Subs Danny Pettifer, Ste Latham, Andy Gillespie