There is something about our games with penfold rangers, the third time we have played them and on all three occasions the games have been incredibly close. Today was a carbon copy of a the fixture played in March 2014, although this time it was us who struck late on to snatch all three points, when in reality a draw was fair result.
A game that lacked any real qualtiy throughout began with us having the better of the opening half an hour, although chances were at a premium, Gunnell flashed a header wide from a piercey corner, shaun coker playing in a holding midfield role was played a couple of dangerous looking throw balls which brother ryan couldnt not quite get on the end of. With the pitch in superb condition it was a surprise that two sides with good quality in attacking areas where failing to test either goalie, that said its no surprise both teams have good defensive records as both pairs of centre backs enjoyed good games throughout. As the half wore on penfold were grabbing a foothold in the game and forced a handful of corners which were well defended. As with so many recent games we have been involed in, the half time whistle blew and we were at a stalemate 0-0.
Half time talk was done in the main part by Mr Douglas Snr(jason's dad), who has been of great assistance to me over the last few weeks, and always has value to add, really happy to hear his contribution both at half time and during the game! Words from the gaffer were to keep work rate up and battle hard for eachother, something we have done in the main all season.
Second half began and its fair to say penfold were enjoying majority of the play without creating anything in the way of a clear cut chance, we were still struggling to find any sort of rhythm going forward, although this was not help by some strange refering decisions, Coker and O'connor both clearly fouled yet the ref waved play on. O'connor then felt a hamstring injury and was replaced by wilkinson who slotted into a right sided midfield role. Penfold then had a ten minute spell where they wasted a couple of good chances, firstly a three on one was missed due to the striker overplaying rather than shooting, and a long range lobbed effort from wide caused concern and trickled wide of the far post with Skipper gunnell almost colliding with the post in his attempt to ensure the ball did not go in. Roberts replaced Ryan coker who had been suffering with a bug prior to the game. Just a few minutes later the winner arrived, a ball was half cleared to the oppositon right back position, skipper gunnell showed great determation to win the ball and ran along the byline before cutting the ball back to Shaun coker who stabbed the ball home from 5 yards out 1-0, credit to the striker for being in the right place at the right time, but also to Gunnell who bust a gut to chase down a lost cause and got his reward. Shortly after and too much relief the full time whistle went.
A battling win, always nice to pick up a bonus three points when we are not at our best.
Man of the match - Matt Gunnell - superb at the back again, and created the all important goal. Mention for bumpy who was excellent again. No surprise we are not conceding many goals with these two playing together on a regular basis.
Cheers also to Rich Piercey, who gives his time up to run the line, much appreicated. Also thanks againt to Jason's dad for his help!
