In the latest chapter of the Segga derby it was the WMC who came out on top this time in another hard fought contest.
It was the cricket club who started the game much the better and we had much of the play and possession and the better of the chances. Gary Draper was controlling the midfield area and only Luke Wilson offered any serious threat with good movement in the forward areas to the Cricket Club goal during this time.
David Winter did though miss a good headed chance on 21 minutes which would prove more of a sign of things to come later.
The Cricket Club took the lead on 25 minutes when after a period of domination Chris Wood forced another corner. Graeme Embleton whipped in a fierce right footed in swinger which found its way directly into the top corner of the net.
The Cricket Club kept coming forward in search of what could have been the killer 2nd goal and nearly had it straight away when Gary Draper did brilliantly to carry the ball into the box and he squared it across the face of goal where Ward was waiting and he stuck his foot out and diverted the ball goal wards only for Adam Davies in the WMC goal to get down brilliantly and save the effort.
Ward was at it again when he ran past 3 WMC defenders before firing a shot across the angle just wide. The Cricket Club wasted other promising situations and you couldn’t help but think even at the time that these misses would come back to haunt us. The Cricket club also had the wind to their advantage in the first half so making our dominance in play count seemed more important than ever.
The Cricket Club did have up to 8 players missing for this match so Subs were limited with only Yates on the bench and the shape of the team was altered when Marc Bladen came off injured on 37 minutes. Within a minute of this happening the WMC were level when Sanderson crossed the ball into the middle where David Winter had got in between the 2 Cricket Club centre halves and headed in from 10 yards out.
The Cricket club were shook by this and it took them a while to adjust to the new shape of the side. The cricket Club did finish the half strongly and but for another brilliant save by Davies again from Yates powerful shot from 12 yards out would have re-taken the lead, the ball bounced around the box like a pin ball for a while but was eventually claimed by Davies.
The WMC played much better in the 2nd half and showed lots more quality attacking play with Wardle & Winter in the wide areas getting more space to support Wilson and the Cricket Club midfield which was so strong in the first half where at times getting by passed.
Dean Smith nearly gave the WMC the lead when his left footed in swinging corner looked destined for the top corner only for Andrew Solan to clear of the line with a good header.
The WMC went ahead on 51 minutes when David Wardle’s attempted cross from the right caught the wind and flew straight over Potts’s head into the far corner. Although the goal itself was probably a fluke it had been coming.
The rest of the game was pretty even on the balance of play with both sides having some chances to score. The Cricket Club thought they had levelled the game when Yates ran clear and scored only to be ruled offside.
The Cricket Club were creating promising positions and O’Brien twice found himself with space at the back post following free kicks into the box but wasted the chances and Frazer had a header well saved from a corner. Often the likes of Embleton, Ward & Wood got into great positions around the edge of the penalty area only to wait too long and get dispossessed when trying an earlier shot might have been a better option.
Gavin Richardson came on to replace the injured Aaron White and he gave the WMC midfield a bit of control in midfield and a good presence in the air to win some headers.
The game could have been done and dusted when the excellent Winter somehow squirmed away again from the attentions of Solan and got into the box where Solan then seemed to have brought him down but after a long pause the referee gave a goal kick.
Timmy Asquirth was booked on 83 minutes when his horrendous challenge into the back of Yates resulted in a foul.
With 3 minutes to go James Thornton did brilliantly on the left hand side to evade 2 challengers and get his way into the box where he then went down under a challenge. The crowd held they breathe before the referee gave a yellow card to Thornton for diving. I think there was slight contact but not enough to warrant a penalty and not enough to book a player for diving it was just another way the referee found to get involved in the game.
When the final whistle went I was furious because during the 2nd half there were at least 5 minutes of injury time that should have been allowed and the referee only played 34 seconds of it and although we didn’t really look like scoring it would have been nice to find out. These things in a local derby certainly matter more than usual and when you are the side that is behind you feel let down by the referee.
It was desperately disappointing to lose the match but the WMC 2nd half performance was excellent.
