Cringleford 4 (Ware, Hickman, Dewing, Izzard) Costessey Harte 2 On a mess of a pitch last seen on grainy footage of 1970s FA Cup giantkillings, Cringleford kept alive their outside hopes of the title with a battling 4-2 win over third-placed Costessey. In the pre-match absence of cold-ridden gaffer Ecky Limon, the main debate was whether to go for a traditional 4-4-2 or try to wrest midfield control by deploying three in the centre of the park. With Karl having done some scouting of the opposition - yes, really - and noticed that most of Costessey's attacks came through the middle, we opted for 3-5-2. Which meant lining up like this: Richard in goal, a back three of Ian, Simon and Ben, with Westy and Matt taking care of the right and left flanks respectively, Karl, Scott and Pondy bossing the midfield and Roger and Shane at the sharp end. A four-man bench consisted of Dan, Huw, Mick and Stevie J, with Ecky summoning the strength to patrol the touchline, croak orders and worry. The opening exchanges were pretty even, with the already cut-up pitch quickly making passing and turning difficult. Neither side had a clear cut chance (that I can remember) before Cringleford took the lead with a goal that owed much to Shane's perseverance and quick feet on the right flank. As he used his strength to beat the full back to a loose ball, Matt was slowly making his way, undetected, down the left. When Shane slipped past another challenge, Matt had arrived just outside the box, still unmarked, and when the ball was cut back towards the penalty spot there was only one thing for it - a crisp, first-time finish into the roof of the net. Oh all right, that was the plan, but the bobbling ball and the combined screams from at least three concerned team-mates to "TAKE A TOUCH" got through just in time, so he took a touch and slotted it beneath the advancing keeper, who got a hand to it but couldn't keep it out. Unfortunately the lead didn't last long, and Costessey were level within three minutes thanks to a powerful and well-placed header from a corner. Thanks to Pondy's industry (and nose-crunching), Karl's composure and Scott's presence and ball-winning, Cringleford had the better of the midfield, but with both Costessey wingers pushing high, there was space for their full backs to move forward beyond halfway to start attacks for the visitors. But for an astonishing save from Richard, they would have taken the lead. The ball was delivered from the right before a cross-shot from the left found a lone striker in the six yard box. It seemed a simple finish, but from nowhere Richard scrambled across his line to somehow turn the ball behind for a corner. Other than that, Ian, Simon and Ben coped admirably with everything Costessey could throw at them, before Roger restored the home side's lead in slightly fortunate fashion. Can't remember how the ball reached him about 20 yards out on the right edge of the box, but his driven right-footed shot should have been comfortable for the keeper at his near post. Having got down well, the ball squirmed up and over him before spinning into the net, with Shane hunting it down just in case. Just before half time, Cringleford took a firm grip on the game when Shane sent a floated left-foot shot over the despairing dive of the beleaguered keeper, who again got a hand to it but couldn't prevent the ball drifting into the corner. With four subs shivering on the sidelines, Ecky shuffled the pack at half time, bringing on Huw on the left, Dan on the right and Mick to hold the centre of midfield. Costessey pressed early as Cringleford took a few minutes to integrate the changes, but the home side were soon back on the attack and Roger the mild-mannered chef amazingly found himself at the centre of some aggro when he came off best in a 50/50 challenge with their number 10, who dished out his retribution with a scything tackle on the Yorkshireman within a minute or two. Roger was back in the visitors' bad books soon enough when he smashed the ball goalwards after a poor decision from the linesman stopped a perfectly-timed run that should have left him clean through with half the pitch to himself. Dan did well to find himself one on one with the keeper, who this time did well to stop his close-range effort, before Cringleford put the game out of reach after some fine work down the left from Huw and (can't remember), who crossed for Karl to sweep a smartly-taken left foot shot past the keeper. Stevie J was relieved from linesman duties to enter the fray on the right, while Dan moved up front to give Roger a breather and the home side reverted to a 4-4-2. With about 15 to go Costessey scored a cracking left foot volley to reduce the arrears and raise the spectre of last season's 5-4 comeback win from 4-1 down. But, in truth, they never really troubled Richard in goal again, and the league leaders could have added a fifth had a dubious offside decision not prevented Matt, on up front for the last 10 minutes, adding his second from close range from Shane's great cross from the left. Unfortunately the keeper landed awkwardly trying to keep the looping shot out and had to be replaced for the last few minutes. Still, he drove off in a smart-looking Aston Martin, so it's not all bad... So that's five wins on the bounce for Cringleford, who maintain their two-point advantage over Sprowston ahead of a six-pointer with their title rivals on February 24. A win there and Sprowston will have a five-point gap to make up from their three games in hand, two of which are against third-placed Costessey.
