Phoenix

Date:	16 Feb 2008
Competition:	County Senior League Div 2
Home/ Away:	Home
Score:	2-0

Match Report

A superb footballing display by the reserves maintained their position near the top of the division. First team players Boulter, Dolby and Wilkins made a big contribution to the teams performance and Boulter, playing his first competitive game since the beginning of the season looked as confident and composed as in many of his first team appearances.

Playing out from the back Boulter combined well with Andy Taylor who hit a great pass to Dolby to get things moving forward for Club. More quality passing saw Boulter find Wilkins with a nicely weighted ball; the striker darted into the area from the left hand side and shot over. Gelsthorpe and Dolby were combining well on the right with the experienced winger encouraging the younger fullback to overlap and this was causing the visiting defence some problems. McKenzie got into a good position and received the ball from Dolby, but his shot from 12 yard was too straight. Mendy Mendy was lively for the visitors and he put Naesby through on goal but the shot when it came was well wide. Sheffield continued to dominate and were getting into good positions with every attack. Chapman found Dolby on the edge of the area; he cut inside but his shot was straight at the keeper. Eskante was also getting plenty of good quality service and holding it up well. Boulter intercepted a pass out from the Phoenix defence and had a good run well into opposition territory, his pass found Wilkins who shot just over. Wilkins had another opportunity, his best of the half so far when his pace left the defence for dead but his shot went across goal. The best opportunity of all came in the closing minutes when following a great move involving all three of the "new boys", Eskante hit the bar from 6 yards.

In the first action of the second half, McKenzie and Eskante combined well to pinch the ball and set up Wilkins who found himself with the keeper to beat. His first attempt was well blocked by Hallowes in the Phoenix goal and Wilkins somehow skewed the rebound agonisingly wide. McKenzie had the next effort, again just wide. The opening goal came after Phoenix had a 5 minute spell and from their corner, Sheffield broke away with Dolby firing in a good cross which Eskante ran on to and hammered home in some style. The big striker nearly got a second a minute later when Wilkins did well on the right and set up Eske who just couldn't get enough purchase on the ball at the near post. In another attack Chapman picked up the ball on the edge of the area and forced his way through the defence and scored with a good strike to the keeper's left to give the home side a 2 - 0 lead. Phoenix weren't out of the contest though and Steve Spence went close with a flicked header from a long throw and Mendy Mendy fired just wide with a good shot when Sheffield failed to deal with a long ball forward. Tom Carnall replaced Taylor and got into the action straghtaway with a good header. Wilkins then got a good ball from Dolby on the edge of the area and seeing the keeper off his line chipped an effort which looked in all the way but hit the bar. Moore replaced McKenzie and he combined well with Wilkins and Eskante to force a corner. In the last few minutes Wilkins pounced on a sloppy pass from the visitors defence and sent another effort past the keeper only to see the effort rebound from the foot of the post.

Team: Holmshaw, Gelsthorpe, Boulter, Taylor (Carnall), Barnes, Chapman, Dolby, Carney (Kavanagh), Eskante, Wilkins, McKenzie (Moore),Lipka