On a dry breezy afternoon we welcomed
Curzon Ashton to Tempest Road for our last league fixture of the season. Harley was missing and Matt was out with an
ankle injury meaning we had 11 players available. Ladybridge were to score their first goal
fairly quickly after kick off when Jack, in space in the box, saw his first
shot parried well by the keeper but he placed the loose ball past the keeper
into the bottom left hand corner of the net to make it 1-0 to Ladybridge after
3mins.
Curzon created a good opportunity to
level 5mins later when their No 11 tested Conor from 25 yards out with a good
strike that he was able to hold onto to preserve Ladybridge's lead. Curzon were awarded a free kick on the edge of
the area after 20mins and the No 11 stepped up to smash the ball into the wall
and the ball was cleared to safety well by the Ladybridge defence. With a couple of minutes of the half remaining
Ladybridge were forced into some good defence as the Curzon No 5 put a torpedo
of a throw-in into the heart of Ladybridge's area that was eventually repelled
well by the home side. Ladybridge would
double their advantage in the last move of the half when an excellent through
ball by Ben was latched on to by Josh who ran 20 yards into the area and
slotted his shot low into the bottom right hand corner of the net to make it
2-0 to Ladybridge.
Half Time Ladybridge 2 – 0 Curzon Ashton.
Jack had an early effort after 5mins to
add to his tally of goals when his thunderous drive from 30 yards out crashed
into the underside of the crossbar and was cleared well by the Curzon defence. Curzon opened their account on 12mins when
their No 11 was found with a defence splitting pass and he finished off the
move with a well struck shot low and to the right of Conor to make it 2-1.
On 20mins the Curzon No 4 up-ended Josh
when clear through on goal to concede a penalty and see the Curzon No 4 shown a
straight red which seemed a little harsh but correct to the letter of the law
and Jack made no mistake from the spot to make it 3-1 to Ladybridge.
Jack scored again shortly after to bag
another hatrick when he hit a tremendous snap shot from 20 yards out that
sailed into the top right hand corner of the net to make it 4-1 to Ladybridge. Curzon would show real character in the last
ten minutes of the game when they grabbed a couple of consolation goals, with
the first created by a long throw-in from the No 5 that was dispatched well by
the Curzon offensive player to make it 4-2.
The last goal of the game came from a
Curzon free kick 35 yards out that was curled into the area and met by a first
time header that was directed well past Conor to make it 4-3.
Ladybridge managed to see out the last
few minutes of the game to record a close victory.
Curzon Ashton put on a great performance
this afternoon that made a mockery of their lowly league position and they
pushed us hard throughout the game. I
thought they actually played their best football when they went down to ten men
and scored twice to the home team’s one goal during the final 15min period of
the game.
Ladybridge complete their season with a
good home win against tricky and determined opposition to ensure a decent mid
placed league finishing position that their performances this season have
merited - well done lads.
Gordon
