West Middlesbrough Academy FC V Stainton 500 FC
Attendance : 17
Being the most anticipated game of the season in this division, it was always going to be a fiery, and fairly matched affair, that would be decided by who wanted the result more.
The game seemed fairly balanced in the opening exchanges, but this changed, when on 8 minutes a West Middlesbrough long range drive rebounded of the post falling to their midfielder who promptly shot back into the same corner wrong footing Barry Davies in the Stainton goal for 1-0 West Middlesbrough.
Stainton battled to get back into the game and despite 2 speculative efforts from their 2 centre backs that were a long way wide of the mark, the game was played mostly in the middle of the park.
However on 17 minutes a quick break by West Middlesbrough led to their striker running across in front of Stuart Murphy, who tried to get out of the way but accidently clipped his heels when running towards the box, to earn him a yellow card.
On 20 minutes a quick break out of defence from Stainton allowed Alex Brown to run the ball to the half way line before playing a lovely ball forward for Lewis Tidy to run onto, before bringing the ball down and stroking the ball past the goalkeeper for 1-1.
On 23 minutes another pacey run from the West Middlesbrough striker led to Andrew Corfield being caught out but he again looked to have run across the Stainton captain who received a yellow card also.
With neither side able to take the upper hand the game continued at a fast pace, but on 36 minutes that changed when a brilliant strike from a West Middlesbrough midfielder into the top left corner from the edge of the box put West mIddlesbrough back into the lead.
Then on 42 minutes a ball into the box from the West Middlesbrough right eluded the defence leaving a shot form close range to bring about a fine save from Barry Davies in the Stainton goal, keeping the difference at just 1 goal. And left the game at 2-1 for the interval.
The second half began in a similar manner to the first. This all changed 5 minutes in however, when Andrew Corfield played a lovely inviting ball into the box from a free kick, that despite a challenge was headed home powerfully by Alex Brown to level the game again at 2-2.
Despite the confident start however it only took a minute for West Middlesbrough to retake the lead, a good run from middle of the park by the West Middlesbrough midfielder was allowed to continue inside the box, before shooting under the body of Barry Davies for 3-2 West Middlesbrough.
On 53 minutes another fine ball into the box from another free kick by Corfield allowed Alex Brown to challenge the goalkeeper in the air, this led to the ball falling to Nathan Tidy, who’s volley found the net to again bring the game level at 3-3.
A change on 59 minutes saw Liam Bedford come on for Matty Devine and 2 minutes later it was Bedford who pulled the ball back on the right for Paul Jenkins to rifle home a shot, giving Stainton the lead for the first time in the game. 4-3 Stainton.
With the game still fairly even, there was another change on 68 minutes for Stainton that saw Neil McLoughlin replace Alex Brown.
On 70 minutes there was a bit of controversy with Paul Jenkins being booked for dissent when he was called over to the referee for a seemingly harmless comment.
A bad injury to Richard May after a 50-50 challenge led to the last Stainton change, With Anthony Biswas replacing him on 76 minutes and on 78 minutes the referee finally took the name of a West Middlesbrough player for what looked like a 2 footed challenge.
On 87 minutes Stainton finally moved further ahead with Substitute Neil Mcloughlin, running unchallenged to the edge of the area before firing home into the bottom right hand corner of the net. 5-3 Stainton.
With the game looking won by Stainton they further extended their lead in the 90th minute through Paul Jenkins, a delightful ball through the middle from Lewis Tidy allowed Jenkins to run into the box before firing home from the right hand side.
Man of the Match - Stuart Murphy – An excellent defensive display and kept the threat of the pacey West mIddlebrough attack under wraps.
Mentions for Mark Roulston, Andrew Corfield and Denny Alderson who all helped keep the back line relatively tight.
