Back to the league after a good performance in the cup last week,needed to reproduce the form and togetherness shown last week.
Yet more changes had to be made due to injures.P.HARRISON (hamstring) CHAD.SHAW (knee) J.GREEN (eye op)
This gave chances for S.TIGHE and L.MARKS who was playing his 1st game of the season after a long suspension. On the bench was ROSTRON,JOHNSTONE,DUNCAN & EGAN.
The game started fast & furious but 8mins into it M.KIELY decided that the referee had made a wrong decision and contiually harassed and threatened the ref who had no opition but to show him a straight RED card.We knew from that moment on the game was going to be an uphill struggle but it would show the teams true character and teams spirit.
The game was quite even with L.MARKS winning majority of headers in the middle of the pitch and M.SHEPLEY pickin up the 2nd ball,The back four of PHEASEY,ADAMSON,K.SHEPLY & TIGHE was keeping it as tight as possible with RED LION only shooting from distance.A freekick for RED LION from the right hand side seen the 1st goal of the game as a mix up between the keeper MEEDS and K.SHEPLEY let the forward have a free header into an open net.
Chances were few and far between but P.KIELY'S constant running and BURNSIDE'S movement up front gave us glimpes of hope up to halftime.
The 2nd half started with alot of passion as ADAMSON AND M.SHEPLEY both got yellow cards early on. P.KIELY harassed and hurried their midfielder into making a mistake then played a great cross field pass to BURNSIDE who vollied the ball across the box for P.MCWILLIAMS to have a simple header into an open goal to give TOWNHALL a 58min equaliser.
This brought the team spirit out even further as players realised they could actually win this game,tackles was flying in as the game started to get heated again,M.SHEPLEY was replaced by the player coach L.EGAN with 20mins left,EGAN'S 1st touch was a high tackle as he got straight into the groove of the game,in the 80min p.kiely's mazey run seen him hacked down like a tree from the RED LION defender,this got tempers flyin as L.MARKS took matters into his own hands and clothes lined there defender which again gave the ref no option but to send him off, TOWNHALL was now down to 9 men with 10mins to play.
This was the time when we have to accept what we have got and defend the point,EGAN didnt see it that way when in the 88min he played the ball into P.KIELY and carried on his run as KIELY played the ball between the defence into EGAN'S path he twisted,turned then slipped only to get up and regain possesion in the area,he turned the defender again but as he was about to unleash a shot EGAN was brought down. The ref instantly gave a penalty and with no hesitation EGAN stood up to take the spot kick himself, this was a great chance to get what wud be superb victory.
EGAN placed the ball on the spot and with a confident look,ran up and placed the ball into the keepers right hand side of the goal giving him no chance of getting near it.
Townhall players were delighted with the result as we all knew how hard we had fought.
Today proved that as a team we can produce great performances
WELL DONE BOYS
