Diamond Academy were looking to respond to the home defeat to Stourport Swifts last weekend with a result against Stafford Town yesterday morning. It’s a big week for the hosts who are due to play in the challenge bowl against Cadbury Athletic on Tuesday at the Erin Go Bragh based at Holly Lane Sport in Erdington. Stafford Town were looking to get back on track following a tough defeat at home to Leicester Football and Education Academy a few weeks back. Despite being bottom of the division, the visitors have not looked too bad and have impressed at home with five wins from thirteen matches at Evans Park. There main issue has been away from home where they are yet to win from nine matches going into yesterday. The weather was nice around Erdington yesterday morning with the sky being clear and sunny and the windy conditions not fully kicking in until the afternoon. There was a decent turnout of supporters and a commendable number of Stafford Town supporters who made the trip down to Holly Lane for the match. Starting Line Ups Diamond Academy’s starting line up included Issah Ibrahim starting in goal and Mohamed Osman captaining the team from the attacking right hand side. The formation appeared to be a 4-3-3 with Lamin Barrow leading the line up front and being supported by Khye Darlington from attacking midfield. Karoy Williams and Dominic Bennett started in central defence. There were three changes from the team that started against Stourport Swifts last weekend with Ngala Nelly Shey coming into the team and playing in holding midfield. The starting line up for Stafford Town featured Sam Pedley starting in goal and Ben Powell captaining the team from central defence. The formation looked like a 4-2-3-1 with Harley Oscar leading the line up front and being supported by Dan Rotherham and Alfie Mantle on the wings. There were six changes from the team that started against Leicester Football and Education Academy in the Challenge Bowl a few weeks back with Sam Scott coming into the team and playing in holding midfield. First Half The opening stages of the match were fairly scrappy with both teams settling into it and working each other out. Stafford Town started the stronger of the two teams and were looking to take the game to Diamond Academy early on and cause problems in the final third. The visitors scored from their first clear cut chance to take an early lead. It came from an excellent strike on the edge of the box from Sam Scott who found the right-hand corner in the 15th minute to make it 1-0. Stafford Town had the momentum for large spells of the first half following the goal and it took Diamond Academy a while to settle into the match. The visitors were causing a lot of problems down the wings and managed to get a second on the 25th minute. It came from an attacking move down the right-hand side where a good ball into the box found Dan Rotheram whose shot was well saved by Issah Ibrahim before the second ball fell to Harley Oscar who finished well to make it 2-0. Diamond came to life in the last fifteen minutes of the first half and managed to respond to the initial set back of going 2-0 down. It started when Lamin Barrow worked the ball well before having a half chance on the edge of the box for Diamond in the 33rd minute where he fired wide. The hosts showed character in the final few minutes to turn the match around. Mohamed Osman did well to anticipate a defensive mistake at the back by Stafford Town and finished over Sam Pedley to make it 2-1 in the 42nd minute. He then produced an excellent through ball to Lamin Barrow who produced a composed finish into the bottom left corner to make it 2-2 just before half time. The second goal was a moment of genuine quality on the ball by Diamond and arguably the highlight of the match yesterday. It was a brilliant way to comeback from the hosts who have had a tough season in the U21s division, but they showed plenty of character to get back into this match. Second Half The early stages of the second half continued in a similar pattern to how the first half finished with Diamond having some momentum in front of goal and searching for a third goal. Lamin Barrow worked the ball well into the box before having a shot well saved by Sam Pedley in the Stafford Town goal. The visitors had a few half chances to take the lead in the second half with the best of them falling to Sam Scott around the edge of the box where he fired wide. The second half was a bit cagier than the first with the chances in front of goal being more limited. Both teams were well organised off the ball and did well to keep it tight at the back. Dominic Bennett was reading the game well for Diamond Academy and managed to clear dangerous balls into the box for the hosts. Ben Powell was doing a fine job at the back for the visitors and was heading dangerous balls away to prevent chances in front of goal. There was a good chance for Diamond substitute Mustapha Touray in the middle of the second half which was well cleared by the defender to keep it at 2-2. Khye Darlington was sent off in the latter stages of the second half. He picked up a second yellow card for a late challenge which reduced Diamond to ten men to set up a nervy finish. None the less, the chances for Stafford Town were mainly limited to a few shots from distance. The best chance for Stafford Town came at the end when Issah Ibrahim made a mistake playing out from the back and let Sam Scott through on goal to score. The midfielder put his effort off target to see the match finish 2-2. Full Time Diamond Academy played well in this match and caused Stafford Town a few problems. The main positive is how they responded to the 2-0 setback early in the first half and came back to get something out of it. There was plenty of effort and endeavour yesterday from the hosts and they worked hard to get the draw. Ngala Nelly Shey had an underrated match from holding midfield and gave the team that composure on the ball to settle into the match. He also linked up the play well and broke it up effectively when defending off the ball. They might be disappointed with a draw but there’s positives to take for their upcoming matches over the next few weeks. Stafford Town played well and showed character to take the game to Diamond early on and battle for a point. They will feel disappointed not to get the win as they had a great chance at the end of the match to take home the three points. The main thing missing was that final ball to create chances in front of goal, but the effort was there. There was plenty of positives in terms of players stepping up and having good games. Alfie Wright had an underrated game from holding midfield and was linking up the play well and having that composure on the ball to build attacks. Dan Rotherham was also trying to make things happen on the right-hand side and was positive on the ball when going forward. Despite the result, there’s positives both teams can take from yesterday’s match. FT score: Diamond Academy 2-2 Stafford Town Man of the Match: Mohamed Osman (Diamond Academy) Match report written by Rhys Beardmore for the Midland Football League Smethwick were looking to build on their 3-1 win against Bilston Town on Easter Monday with a result against play off chasing Wednesfield yesterday. There’s been signs of progress since the managerial appointment of Sam Heath and Francino Francis back in the autumn with a notable uptick in home form. The hosts are looking to finish the season strongly and get a high enough points tally for a potential reprieve. It's been an excellent season for Wednesfield who have built on last season’s 15th place finish in division one and are in the hunt for the play offs. John Griffiths has done a under the radar job in building a squad that is challenging near the top of the table. Even if they fall short of the play offs, it’s been an encouraging campaign from the visitors. The atmosphere around the Trevor Brown Memorial Ground was positive and upbeat prior to kick off with both sets of supporters looking forward to the match. Wednesfield brought a decent number of away supporters yesterday. The link with the Boldmere St Michaels U21s helps Smethwick bring in a good number of supporters when the Mikes first team are away. Starting Line Ups The starting line up for Smethwick Rangers included Harold Edjangue starting in goal and Charlie Aston captaining the team from central defence. The formation looked like a 3-5-2 with a front two of Kamil Solecki and Jamie Biddle being supported by Romehl Critchlow in the attacking midfield role. There were three changes from the team that started against Bilston Town on Easter Monday with Red Simmons coming into the team and playing in the centre of midfield. Wednesfield’s starting line up featured Craig Pain starting in goal and Nathan Walker captaining the team from holding midfield. The formation appeared to be a 4-2-3-1 with Craig Tuckley leading the line up front and being supported by Mitch Bradford and Reagan Wardle on the wings. There were three changes from the team that started against Cradley Town in mid-week with Jake Lloyd coming into the team and starting in central defence alongside Jordan Uppal. First Half The opening 15 minutes of the match were fairly scrappy with both teams settling into it and looking to work each out and where to find the space to build attacks. Wednesfield started the better of the two and were looking to take the game to Smethwick early on. The visitors were looking to attack down the wings and work balls into the box for Craig Tuckley to get on to. Mitch Bradford was playing well down the right wing for Wednesfield and regularly taking on his man to make things happen in the final third. A lot of the build up play from the visitors was good and they liked to play a possession-based style to work the ball into the final third. The only thing that was missing was that final ball and bit of composure in the box to create clear cut chances. Smethwick were well set up off the ball to deal with the Wednesfield pressure in the first half and gradually grew into the match as it went on. They were set up to break on the counter attack and draw Wednesfield on to them so they could utilise the space available. They have done this well before and it worked to excellent effect in the home win over Droitwich in December. They took the lead on the half hour mark through a corner delivered into the box. Dylan Green took an excellent corner that went to the back post and found Jake Lamb who diverted the ball onto Jamie Biddle who finished well to make it 1-0 to Smethwick. The hosts were building some momentum in the middle of the first half and were playing well to create chances in front of goal. Kamil Solecki was doing well to hold the ball up and brought players into it to help support promising attacks in the final third. Jake Lamb was having an excellent game at the back and was regularly clearing and blocking dangerous balls into the box. The first real notable chance for the visitors fell to Craig Tuckley who had a shot tipped over the bar by Harold Edjangue in the 38th minute. Wednesfield managed to find an equaliser near the end of the first half and an excellent ball into the box found Craig Tuckley who produced an instinctive finish into the bottom left corner to make it 1-1. The match was finely balanced going into half time and was set up well for the second half. Second Half The second half was similar to the first with Wednesfield looking to break down a well organised Smethwick defence and the hosts looking to break on the counterattack and press high up the pitch to put pressure on the visitors. Romehl Critchlow had a good chance on the edge of the box for Smethwick in the early stages of the second half which he fired wide. Jake Lloyd was playing well at the back for the visitors and reading the game well from central defence to limit the Smethwick chances in front of goal. Wednesfield had a good chance to take the lead on the hour mark when substitute Jake Webb accelerated into the box before firing wide. It was the clearest chance they had of taking the lead up to that point. The visitors were reduced to ten men in the final stages of the second half. Jake Griffiths got involved with an incident off the ball and was sent off for Wednesfield on the 70-minute mark. This set up an interesting finish to the match with the emphasis on Smethwick to see if they could find a winner against the ten men. There were not that many chances up until the final few minutes where the match came into life. Dominic Latham had an excellent chance to win it for Wednesfield late on and had a shot well saved by Harold Edjangue in the Smethwick goal. The match looked like it was heading for a draw before a moment of inspiration gave Smethwick their 5th home win of the season. Substitute Kyle Burke came off the bench and produced an excellent finish from the edge of the box that sailed into the bottom left corner for the late winner. Full Time Yesterday was huge for Smethwick Rangers and their prospects for the end of the season. The priority for their remaining matches will be to finish above AFC Bridgnorth and get a high enough points tally for a potential reprieve to stay at step six. Since making the move to Boldmere St Michaels it feels like there going in the right direction and have been competitive at home in division one. It’s a team effort from Smethwick and they play well on and off the ball to cause teams problems. Romehl Critchlow was excellent in the attacking midfield role yesterday and had that composure on the ball to build attacks. Dylan Green also had a good game from the attacking wing back role and was linking up the play well. Wednesfield will be disappointed with the result yesterday and view it as a missed opportunity to put pressure on the likes of OJM and Droitwich for the play offs. None the less, they have played three matches in six days in what’s been a hectic schedule due to the amount of postponements which would impact any team. They did not play too badly yesterday and were passing the ball around well. It’s mainly that final ball in the box but apart from that they looked good on the ball and like to play a nice brand of football. It was a tight match yesterday and there was not much separating the two teams. FT score: Smethwick Rangers 2-1 Wednesfield Attendance: 42 Man of the match: Kamil Solecki (Smethwick Rangers) Match report written by Rhys Beardmore for the Midland Football League |
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March 2024
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