The UNITS had their first midweek of the season tonight as we took on likely league runners up Gornal at home
As is always the way with midweeks it was a mixed bag of availability with plenty missing including Mala or Mike being available to go in goal so the Big man stepped up as we started with
Kev, Kieron P, Gilo, John H, Eggy, Coco, Acer, Ashton, Newton, Ginge & Trigger
Bench was Baker, Rad & Cuzer
The UNITS started very lively and had Gornal on the back foot early, we created two good chances in the first 5 minutes before Acer did well to get to the byeline and fire in a low cross, Ginge had a shot saved by their keeper and the follow up blocked on the line before he prodded home the rebound to put us 1-0 up early
It was no less than we deserved as we looked very lively up top especially, Ginge & Trigger were linking really well and getting in behind Gornal at will
Trigger then had a great chance to make it 2-0 when Acer put him away, he beat the last man only for their keeper to make a fine save at his feet and the rebound was scrambled away
Ashton then had a chance to shoot, elected to pass to Ginge only for his shot to be saved at the near post as we really should have added to our lead
Gornal as expected were pacey and direct up top but we were dealing with it well, they also had a long throw into our box and after a couple of scrambles we kept the lead in tact
On 25 minutes we let Gornal back into the game however, a debatable free kick was awarded deep in the Gornal half and from a long boot down field we lost the flick on and were slow to react to the 2nd ball as their striker ran through and lobbed Kev from 18 yards, there was a hint of offside but the flag from "Honest" Baker stayed down
Disappointingly the UNITS within 10 minutes found themselves 3-1 down as the good early work was undone, firstly a long throw into our box wasn't dealt with, in the resulting pinball in the box the ball hit Gilo on the line on the shoulder, the referee deeming it was hand ball and their striker just beat Kev from the spot
Minutes later we were slow to react to a through ball and their striker fired in low across Kev into the far corner
There was still time for Gilo to have one cleared off the line and Newt to force their keeper into a good save as we found ourselves 3-1 down despite being the better side in the first half
HT UNITS 1 v 3 Gornal Fiddle
Cuzer asked the guys, as he often seems to lately,to be more clinical in both boxes as we really should have been in front
To our credit we gave it a go in the 2nd half and started well, Acer & Ashton going close early on whilst at the other end Kev made a good save low down with his feet as Gornal always remained a threat
We made it 3-2 on the hour mark, John Hawthorne put a long free kick into the Gornal box, Trigger beat his man in the air and headed across goal for Ginge to loop a 10 yard header over their keeper and get the UNITS right back in the game
Alas from the kick off we totally switched off and afforded Gornal their 2 goal cushion back, a long ball was held up and flicked on to the untracked midfielder who lobbed Kev from the edge of the box to make it 4-2
Cuzer then made 3 changes with 25 left, bringing on himself, Baker & Rad for Eggy, Acer & Newt as we went 3-5-2 trying to chase the game
We were still creating however so were Gornal as the game became open, on 75 minutes the contest was over when a ball in behind appeared to be covered by John and Kev yet their lad nipped in to poke the ball past Kev and tap into the empty net to seal the game
This knocked the stuffing out of the UNITS a little and Gornal could have added a couple more late on as the game finished 2-5
Lot's of positives to take from the game with so many players missing, we once again played well in spells and created a host of chances, especially early on but things not quite dropping for us at present as we suffered back to back league defeats
Man of the match went to Kieron who did well on his full debut, excellent use of the ball and stood up to what was thrown at him. Ginge & John H also deserve credit for their displays
