Division One Allscott Heath 1-1 Nuneaton Griff Allscott Heath got a good point at home to Nuneaton Griff on Saturday in their hunt for the play offs. The draw makes it seven points from their last three matches and leaves them in 4th with a six-point gap over Cradley Town in 6th. They have been strong at home throughout the season with nine wins from fourteen matches. A good crowd of 50 supporters turned up to watch the match at the weekend at Allscott Heath sports club in Telford. Nuneaton Griff took the lead in the first half through Steven Pywell thanks to an overhead kick to go into the break with a 1-0 lead. The hosts responded in the second half and managed to find an equaliser through Harry Morris to get a valuable draw. It’s a good point for both teams and is something to build on for Nuneaton Griff who competed well in this match. Droitwich Spa 8-1 AFC Bridgnorth Droitwich continued their excellent home form with an emphatic win against relegation strugglers AFC Bridgnorth on Saturday. Their form at Kingy’s has been a real strength with ten wins from twelve matches to leave them in 3rd and with a six-point advantage over Cradley Town in 6th. A top three finish would give them an excellent chance in the play offs as it sets up a home semi final match. An excellent crowd of 156 supporters turned up to watch Droitwich get their 17th win of the season. Most of the danger was done in the first half to settle the match. The Saltmen got into a 3-0 lead in the opening 25 minutes thanks to a brace from Cory Rudd and a goal from Josh Hurdman. It was 4-0 on the 25th minute thanks to a strike from James Lemon. AFC Bridgnorth responded and got a goal back in the 38th minute through a penalty by Chris Sterling to make it 4-1. Perr Moss scored a few minutes before half time to make it 5-1 at the break. Further efforts in the second half from Josh Hurdman and substitutes Lucas Edmonds and Woody Hawkett made it 8-1 at full time. It’s an excellent win for Droitwich and should give them confidence for the matches ahead. It was a tough day at the office for AFC Bridgnorth and not good for their goal difference. None the less, if they can beat the teams around them, they might have a chance but it’s looking an uphill struggle to stay up at this stage. Ingles 3-0 Smethwick Rangers Ingles continued their good form with a convincing win against Smethwick Rangers at the Thringstone Miners Centre. The result leaves them in 2nd with 60 points and in the hunt for the top three to put them in a strong position for the play offs. A good crowd of 62 supporters turned up to watch Ingles get their 8th home win of the season. A solo effort from Jack Allen and a brace from Jude Ayetine gave Ingles the three points. They have been one of the most consistent teams in the league with just one loss from their last eight matches. Smethwick are probably going to be playing step seven football next season. It’s all building for the visitors over the next few months and looking at the bigger picture. Stapenhill 1-1 Hinckley AFC Stapenhill held league leaders Hinckley AFC to a draw at Maple Grove on the weekend. It’s a battling point for the Swans and an encouraging result against one of the standout teams at this level. An excellent crowd of 110 supporters turned up to watch the match in Burton on Trent. Lewis Campbell scored for Stapenhill on the 35th minute before the visitors responded a few minutes later thanks to an effort by Lewis Rankin in the 42nd minute to make it 1-1. The Swans held out in the second half for a good point. It’s a good response from Stapenhill to the 4-0 loss at Hinckley AFC last weekend. Hinckley AFC are in a strong position in division one and will be looking to wrap up the league title over the next few weeks. Division Two Birmingham United 5-0 Earlswood Town Birmingham United continued their excellent home record with a convincing 5-0 win against Earlswood Town at the Trico Stadium at the weekend. The result makes it eight wins from thirteen home matches in the league. It leaves them in 2nd with 48 points and it’s been a good season for Birmingham United at step seven which sets them up nicely for next season. Goals from Ricardo Richards, Leonard Obuadam, Conor Doyle, Gerson Ladila and Randy Osei gave the Blinders the three points. It was a team effort in front of goal from the hosts which was encouraging. They probably won’t win the league this season but are setting themselves up to challenge next season at step seven. Cadbury Athletic 0-0 Alcester Town Cadbury Athletic did well to hold Alcester Town to a goalless draw at the Bournville Recreation Ground on Saturday. A brilliant crowd of 80 supporters turned up to watch the draw which would suit the hosts more. The Chocolate men are in a relatively comfortably position in the league and have an eight-point gap over the bottom two. The teams below them do have a few games in hand so if they could get a few more wins between now and the end of the season in May they should be fine. Alcester Town are in a good position in the league and comfortably in the top five despite the draw. Similar to Birmingham United, the rest of the season is all about building so they can challenge for next season. Inkberrow 1-1 Coventry Alvis Inkberrow got a good draw against top half side Coventry Alvis at Sands Road at the weekend. It’s a good point for the Worcestershire side and they are well clear of any relegation concerns. Sahad Amir opened the scoring in the 2nd minute for Inkberrow before the visitors responded through Jagit Aujla to make it 1-1 at full time. Both teams have had relatively good seasons in division two and will be looking to challenge next season. Knowle 3-1 Lane Head Knowle got a brilliant win at the Robins Nest at the weekend to put pressure on Redditch Borough for the league title. The Robins have been brilliant at home throughout the season with nine wins from twelve matches and it continued here against Lane Head. A good crowd of 57 supporters turned up to watch Knowle get the three points on Saturday. A brace from Jack Mullen and a solo goal from new signing Odane Barnes got Knowle’s 15th win of the season in division two. Craig Tuckley scored what turned out to be a consolation goal for Lane Head who have had a good season despite the result. The result leaves Knowle top of the league with an eight-point gap over Redditch Borough in 3rd who have five games in hand. The main positive for Knowle is having to play Redditch Borough home and away which could have a big say on who wins the league come early May. Littleton 1-0 Bolehall Swifts Littleton got a crucial win at the weekend at Five Acres in Worcestershire in their battle to stay in step seven. It’s been a challenging season for the Tonboys but they have got hope for their remaining matches with only a three point gap to make up over Fairfield Villa in 14th with the same number of games played. A James Batchelor free kick was enough to separate the two teams and settle the match. The way Littleton battled in this match and held on for the clean sheet is encouraging in their battle to avoid the drop. They also competed well in recent losses to Birmingham United and Alcester Town, so they have a good chance of staying up based on current form. The same issues continued for Bolehall in this match against Littleton. The Swifts have competed well against a range of tough teams in division two and are not too far adrift of safety with a six-point gap to Fairfield Villa in 14th. However, they have struggled in front of goal, and it’s been a season long issue with the lowest goals scored tally in the league with 14 goals from 17 matches. The season is not over just yet for Bolehall Swifts, but they could do with finding a goal scorer to give themselves a chance of staying up. Round up feature written by Rhys Beardmore for the Midland Football League Romulus were looking for a statement result yesterday against play off chasing Darlaston Town at Castle Vale Stadium. It’s been a transitional season for Romulus in the premier division with an eye on building for next season. They were comfortably in mid table going into yesterday’s match and in no danger of relegation. Darlaston are in the hunt for the play offs and were in a good position going into yesterday’s match. The visitors had been one of the most consistent teams in the league going into this one with just five losses from 26 matches which had put them in contention for the play offs. A notable area where they’ve struggled was away from home with three wins from 14 matches. The Citizens were in a decent run of form going into this match with 9 points from their last five league games and were looking to continue their six-game unbeaten run against Romulus. The atmosphere around CV Stadium was positive prior to kick off with both sets of supporters looking forward to the match. Darlaston Town brought a commendable number of supporters who made the trip down to Castle Vale which added to the atmosphere. The main stand of CV stadium is excellent for the view it offers of the pitch. Starting Line Ups The starting line up for Romulus featured Lewis Gwilliams starting in goal and Stephen Palmer captaining the team from holding midfield. The formation looked like a 4-2-3-1 with Isai Marselia leading the line up front and being supported by Ryan Nesbitt and Fin Douglas on the wings. There were four changes from the team that started against Dudley Town last weekend with Joe Perry coming into the team and playing in central defence alongside Sam Paddock. Darlaston Town’s starting line up included Tom Allsopp starting in goal and Alexander Foreshaw captaining the team from central defence. The formation appeared to be a 4-2-3-1 with Rivel Mardenborough leading the line up front and being supported by Aaron Bishop and James Rowland on the wings. There were two changes from the team that started against Studley last weekend with Ryan Winwood coming back into the team and starting in holding midfield. First Half The match started with an opening goal in the first five minutes with Romulus starting well and taking the initiative. A well delivered corner into the box found Isai Marselia who headed the ball into the bottom left corner to make it 1-0 in the 3rd minute. This was excellent for the neutral as it opened the game up with Darlaston needing something from it in their hunt for the play offs. The visitors were building attacks well and had a few chances to get a quick equaliser. Their best chance came in the middle of the first half when a neat passing move involved Rivel Mardenborough who played a brilliant ball down the left that found James Rowland. He flicked the ball onto Jake Pearson who fired narrowly wide from the edge of the box. The main pattern of play was Darlaston playing a possession-based style and looking to break down a well organised Romulus defence. The Roms were looking to play on the break and draw Darlaston on to them so they could make the most of the available space. It was an entertaining watch with a lot of neat build up play from both sides going forward. The visitors managed to find an equaliser near the half hour mark to make it 1-1. James Rowland got into an excellent position in midfield before playing an accurate ball to Jake Pearson down the right. He crossed to Aaron Bishop who finished well into the left corner of the net. It was a moment of quality on the ball from Darlaston rather than any glaring mistake at the back from Romulus. Romulus responded well to conceding the equaliser and showed character to keep going. There was a brilliant chance for Isai Marselia to make it 2-1 in the 35th minute when he capitalised on a mistake at the back by Rueben Lal and went one on one with Tom Allsopp who made a good save. The Roms persevered and made it 2-1 a few moments later. It was an excellent move in the final third where Isai Marselia made a dangerous run down the left before sending a good cross into the box for Ryan Nesbitt to head in at the near post. It was a quality goal from Romulus and showed what their capable of. The visitors responded and put pressure on the Romulus goal in the final stages of the first half. They were building some momentum in front of goal, and this paid off a few minutes before half time. The Citizens were awarded with a penalty for a handball in the box by Joe Perry. James Rowland stepped up and took a composed penalty into the left corner to make it 2-2 at half time. It was a really entertaining first half between two teams that were going for it and looking to make things happen in the final third. Second Half The second half continued where the first half left off with a lot of action in front of goal and a free-flowing match. Romulus started brightly and took the game to Darlaston and were getting forward with numbers into the box. A good ball into the box lead to a scramble where Isai Marselia reacted quickest to the second ball to make it 3-2 in the 50th minute. He scored again a few minutes later to complete his hat-trick. It was the finish of a player in form, and he made it look easy to make it 4-2 to Romulus. He was brilliant yesterday and held the ball up well to provide an attacking outlet for the Roms so they could build attacks. Darlaston responded straight from the resulting kick off to make it 4-3 and set up a nervy finish to the match. A long ball found Rivel Mardenborough in the box who was one on one with Lewis Gwilliams. He managed to chip the ball into the net for Darlaston’s third in the 55th minute. A subtle tactical change led to Darlaston having more of the ball in the second half. Kieron Miller came on for Rueben Lal in central defence and provided the backline with a greater sense of physicality to stop Romulus’ momentum in front of goal. He played well alongside Alexander Foreshaw at the back, and they were managing to clear dangerous balls away to prevent attacks. The visitors managed to find an equaliser to make it 4-4 in the 65th minute. It was similar to the third goal with James Rowland making a clever run off the ball before being found and flicking the ball over Lewis Gwilliams. From this moment on, Darlaston were in the ascendancy and looking to find the winner. Romulus were looking to hold on and catch the highline of Darlaston off guard. The best chance of a winner for Darlaston came when Aaron Bishop had a half chance from the edge of the box in the 75th minute. There was also a notable chance where Romulus struggled to clear a corner and the resulting second ball went wide of goal. Romulus showed resiliency to hold on and find an unlikely winner in injury time for a dramatic win. A dangerous free kick was delivered into the box where Sam Paddock was on hand to head the ball into the net for the three points. It was a brilliant response from the Roms and something to really build on going forward. Overall, this was a brilliant match and a great advert for step five football. FT score: Romulus 5-4 Darlaston Town Man of the match: Isai Marselia (Romulus) Attendance: 101 Match report written by Rhys Beardmore for the Midland Football League |
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