Men's First Team
Matches
Mon 07 Mar 2016  ·  Premier Division
Stourbridge FC
Men's First Team
4
1
Matlock Town
Stourbridge 4 Matlock Town 1

Stourbridge 4 Matlock Town 1

Richard Clark8 Mar 2016 - 19:52
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The Glassboys climbed back to 5th place in the Evo-Stik League Premier Division with an ultimately comfortable home win against Matlock Town.

The final score was a little harsh on the Gladiators, though, who contributed to an entertaining game but were let down by their final ball and rarely trouble Matt Gould. In contrast, Stourbridge were clinical in front of goal.

With Gary Hackett away on holiday, Jon Ford and Mark Clifton took charge of the team, and named the same starting line-up that had beaten Darlington nine days previously.

The visitors began positively, and had marginally the better of the early exchanges. Niall McManus stretched out a leg on 6 minutes, but just failed to connect with a ball chipped into the area, and Matt Gould gathered comfortably, and then Charlie Dawes scuffed a shot wide on 9 minutes. Almost immediately at the other end Chris Lait fired wide with the Glassboys’ first effort of any note.

It was very slightly against the general run of play, then, when Stourbridge forged ahead on 15 minutes. Karl Hawley carried the ball forward before picking out Lait in the left channel, who advanced before finding the net just inside keeper George Willis’s near post with a fierce shot.

And eight minutes later the lead was doubled. A surging run from Kristian Green was brought to a halt on the edge of the Matlock penalty area but when the visitors failed to clear their lines properly, Justin Richards was given the time to find the unmarked Green six yards out, and the full back found the back of the net via the inside of Willis’s right-hand upright.

The Glassboys settled into the game after this, and controlled much of the rest of the half, although Nicky Travis almost caught Gould out with a low driven shot that the Glassboys keeper did well to save at his near post, and then Danny Holland was unable to keep his hooked effort on target on 36 minutes, the ball instead looping over Gould’s bar.

But it was the Glassboys who came closest to adding another goal, first when Hawley’s shot from 20 yards stung the palms of Willis as he tipped it over the bar, and then when Joe Hull headed against a post from Sean Geddes’s corner.

A yellow card for Dan Scarr four minutes before the interval for a foul on McManus led to a free kick that Ted Cribley could only fire straight into Gould’s arms, in what was to prove the final noteworthy action of the half.

The second period began slowly but the game took a decisive turn on 51 minutes as matt Dodd tricked two Matlock defenders on the by-line before being brought down by Michael Harcourt to earn a penalty. Harcourt received a booking for his protests, whilst Dodd duly despatched the spot kick low to Willis’s left as he committed himself the other way.

The Gladiators might have found themselves a niche of hope five minutes later as Holland charged onto a through ball but, with only Gould to beat, he fired wide from the edge of the penalty area.

Hawley was close to adding a fourth on 65 minutes when he took aim from 25 yards, with the ball fizzing just over the crossbar, and then Lait ballooned a difficult chance over from Geddes’s flick on.

But a fourth goal eventually came on 74 minutes as Hawley gave Dodd the chance to run at his full back before squaring the ball for Leon Broadhurst to calmly fire home from just inside the penalty area.

With the game effectively settled, the Glassboys took the foot off the pedal a little, and it was the visitors who would have the better of the closing stages. Substitute Joel Purkiss turned neatly in the box on 82 minutes but could only find the side-netting, before Liam Needham did manage to pull a goal back three minutes from time, bundling the ball over the line at the far post after a defensive miscue.

Nonetheless, it was a fine night’s work for the Glassboys as they moved back into the play-off places with a seventh Evo-Stik League win on the trot.

Match details

Match date

Mon 07 Mar 2016

Kickoff

19:45

Attendance

344

Competition

Premier Division
Team overview
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Main Club Sponsor - Bhandal Dental Practice
Club Sponsor  - Pegasus
Club Sponsor - Ampteam Ltd
Club Sponsor - The Mary Stevens Hospice Lottery
Club Sponsor  - Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company
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Official Junior Club Sponsor - Avanti Kitchens Bedrooms & Bathrooms
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Official Travel Partner - Prospect Coaches
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