Kirton Town travelled to Benington on Saturday, hoping to end a run of three straight defeats,....with Jamie Hall back in goal, and Joe Gilbert moving to right back ,the team was nearly unchanged from the previous 3 games.kirton started the stronger, and were more possessive in midfield, with Richard Ford moved back into his preferred midfield roll, he was the engine of the team, after a couple of early opertunities,it was Richard Ford who gave the visitors the lead on 10 minutes ,a brilliant run through the Benington midfield finished ,when he unleashed a blistering shot from outside the box, the ball flew into the mid left hand side of the goal, with their diving goalkeeper well beaten. This was just the start Kirton wanted and they didn’t have to wait long until their lead was doubled, on 15 minutes Reece West put a Benington player under pressure and his pass back to the keeper was scuffed straight to Declan sands who gratefully banged the ball into the net from a tight angle. Kirton looked to be cruising at this stage but after some hard tackling ,some hard work through the midfield from the Marc Neall, Benington started to up there game on 21 mins a back pass to Jamie Hall in the Kirton goal, caused him problems, as he tried to shift the ball onto his favoured left foot, lost control of the ball and slipped as he went after it , as there forward closed him down he could only kick the ball at the foot of the attacker, the ball re bounded behind the Kirton keeper and the forward ran around him to kick the ball into a empty net this is just what Kirton didn’t need, and only a few mins later it was 2-2 a Benington player had the ball just outside the Kirton box , he pushed the ball to the side and hit a unstoppable shot into the Kirton goal,Benington had the momentum now and 10 mins later they were in front for the first time, Kirton failing to clear the ball, and as a shot come in from a player, the Kirton goalkeeper got down well to turn the shot away, only for it to fall into the path of their striker who knocked the ball into the net to give Benington a un- deserved 3-2 lead, a Kirton challenge could have been more severe than what it was a few mins later, a Benington player was clear through on goal, and a hefty shoulder barge from Martin Durrant brought the player down , a free kick was given but luckily no card was shown , even after some players were remonstrating that Martin was the last man and it was a clear goal scoring opertunity,the resulting free kick didn’t come to anything. Kirton went looking for the equaliser, and after some strange refereeing decisions it was the 42 min when this was to come, a Kirton free kick for a foul on Richard Ford was swung into the box brilliantly by Joe Gilbert and after a Martin Durrant header, the ball fell at the feet of Reece West who slammed the ball into the back of the net to bring the visitors level 3-3 for half time.
The second half started ,the referee started to play his part, Reece West received a booking for a clumsy tackle on a Benington player, and as the game wore on a Benington player slipped and lost the ball to Marc Neall in midfield ,who then looked more amazed than anyone as the ref blew for a free kick against Marc for a foul on the player who he hadn’t even touched, but luckily enough the resulting free kick didn’t come to anything, Marc was always a danger for Kirton in the second half with some brilliant dribbling into the hosts half, One of the best bits of skill though came from James Hardy out on the wing ,who picked the ball up deep inside his own half and ran at the hosts defence, having evaded 4 or 5 tackles he made it into the penalty area only to see a week shot saved by the home keeper, But Kirton did not have to wait long before they were in front again, a great shot from Fordy which was too hot for the keeper to hold, the ball spilt out to Declan sands who took the ball around the keeper and scored for his second goal of the game, just after this Reece West made a hard tackle on a Benington player , who made the most of the tackle ,curled up on the floor ,Reece received another yellow card then red, so Kirton had to finish the last 15 mins with ten men, the player was fine as he got up and took the resulting free kick , but it sailed wide of the Kirton goal with no one really challenging it, there was a few mins when Kirton rode their luck, and one brilliant save from the Kirton keeper as he quickly shut the attacker down at his near post and saw his shot fly out to safety of his legs, it was to be Kirton day though and they held on to grab all three of the points with a deserved and timely 3-4 victory, Marc Neall was again named man of the match, but for everyone this was a lot better team performance than previous weeks, let’s keep it going Kirton !!!
