Thrum Hall travelled to West Vale, the home of Siddal Place FC on a sunny yet nippy Remembrance Sunday.
The squad of 16 was announced, which included new signings Ian Armstrong and Luke Attiwell who were both looking to make an impact on their debuts for the club. Thrum Hall were injury stricken as Brad Holt failed a late fitness test, which meant a change to the planned starting 11. Jamie Casey was moved to left back and Lee Gallagher was promoted to the staring 11, which allowed Jay Clissitt to play on the left hand side of a front 3.
Both teams showed great respect as the minute silence was observed impeccably before the kick off.
Siddal looked threatening from the off as they applied pressure on the Thrum Hall defence with a number of corners and good build up play. Thrum Halls defence could withstand the pressure no longer as Siddal's continuous attack lead to the first goal of the game in the 9th minute. Only 3 minutes later, Siddal scored again as a switch of play caught Thrum Hall out and the Siddal front man had an easy finish. Thrum Hall keeper Rick Stanger was looking to make amends for his recent performances and was doing so as he made 3 or 4 one on one saves in the first half, unfortunately in the 18th minute he was caught out with a long range strike meant he could only watch the ball go over his head.
With Siddal 3-0 up, Thrum Hall then started to attack for themselves and play some decent football. Thrum Hall were starting to get a foot on the ball as Lee Gallagher was spraying balls to both attaching wingers, Chris Dawson and Ian Armstrong were helping out their defence with ball winning tackles being made from both of them. Jamie Casey was finding his way further forward with each opportunity and was linking up with Jonathan Gibson to try and get Thrum Hall back in the game. On the 26th minute a corner from Ash Shepherd found its way to Jay clissitt who took one touch and struck a curling effort into the to top corner. Thrum Hall had a lifeline. Siddal replied 5 minutes later as free kick came into the Thrum Hall penalty area which wasn't dealt with which meant 4-1 to Siddal. A moment of madness just before half time as Ash Shepherd attempted to deal with and in-swinging cross but instead put the ball into his own net.
Half time came and both gaffer Ben Coates and Assistant Marcus Williams were not happy with what they had seen from their team. Changes were made and Thrum Hall changed to a 4-4-2. Lee Gallagher was taken off and replaced by Ash Smethurst. Andy Hemblys then moved to a central midfield role and Smethurst took his place at the centre of defence with Karl Cartlidge. Jamie Casey who was looking deadly went up top with Jonathan Gibson and Chris Dawson moved to left back.
Thrum Hall started the second half well and were dealing with the Siddal attack regularly. Karl Cartlidge and Ash Smethurst were both making crunching tackles and clearing what came to them in the air. Luke Attiwell was looking to cause problems and helped win a corner for Thrum Hall which resulted in a goal for Jonathan Gibson on the 51st minute, as he found his way onto the end of Ash Shepherd's corner. Siddal replied only 2 minutes later as a tired looking Thrum Hall couldn't deal with another attack from Siddal which made it 6-2. Thrum Hall made a change on 65minutes following Chris Dawson's signal to come off and he was replaced by Phill Ogden. Jay Clissitt then doubled his tally with a great finish soon after the substitution as he chipped the ball over Siddal's keeper to make it 6-3.
With 20 minutes left and after Rick Stanger had made more saves to hold off too much embarrassment the game was put out of sight for Thrum Hall on the 72nd minute as Siddal scored again. 7-3 was the score but Thrum Hall wouldn't finish the game without Jay Clissitt completing his hattrick with over 10 minutes to go as he smashed the ball into the net from close range.
The game finished 7-4 and there wasn't too many positives to take away from the game from a Thrum Hall perspective, but Halifax Hammers Reserves are on the horizon next week, and Thrum Hall will be looking to right their wrongs from the Siddal game and improve on their 3-3 draw with Hammers in the pre season.
