The UNITS travelled to Lea Castle to take on New Inn with a few key players missing for numerous reasons. Barney had manflu, Ashton was incoherent after his works night out, Farron was injured...again and Coco & Farron Snr were absent so we lined up as follows
Mala, Penna, Chinner, Darbs, Kirbs, Baker, Jim, Hunter, Taylor, Jonah & Ross
Subs were Turner, Marcus, Eggy & Lacey
New Inn had a couple of bad results of late but they seemed determined to put things right as they started quickly forcing a couple of quick corners as the UNITS struggled to get out of their half in the first 5 minutes
The game then bedded down and with both sides playing similar formations the game became a battle in midfield
With clear chances at a premium the game was devoid of goal mouth action then on 25 the New Inn midfield was afforded too much space and hit a 25 yarder which Mala did well to tip onto the bar
This stirred the UNITS into action and from a Taylor throw, Hunter had a shot blocked on the line, then from a Jonah corner Darbs flicked on at the near post and the ball was again hacked off the line as we pushed to go in ahead
Shortly after Taylor did well to whip in a cross which Hunter headed inches wide from 8 yards out in our clearest chance to date
New Inn with Chesney a willing runner were well in the game yet their chances had dried up a little with only set pieces being their main threat yet we defended them well enough
On 40 minutes Ross did well to cut inside his man in the box and he appeared to be clipped yet the referee said no penalty despite many of the New Inn players admitting he was caught and both sided came in level at 0-0
Cuzer felt the game was there to be won and asked for 10% more from the players, we had grown into the game after a sloppy start yet our play lacked a cutting edge
We had a terrible start though to the 2nd half when after a quick long throw we were caught napping when Chesney laid the ball back to the onrunning midfielder who sidefooted past Mala from 15 yards
Cuzer then changed the shape and put Hunter up with Taylor and we were now well on top as New Inn got forced back, Taylor had a one on one well saved by the New Inn keeper and Baker had a low shot hacked away as we turned the screw
Jim was next to threaten as he volleyed over from 8 yards then Chinner up from a corner clipped the top of the bar with a left foot volley as we knocked the door without reward
However on the hour mark Ross whipped in a delightful corner which Darbs did well to head across the goal and into the far corner to level things up
It was to be Darbs last contribution as he had picked up a knock early on and was struggling, Eggy coming on in a like for like swap
Within 10 minutes the UNITS had taken the lead, Baker fed the ball out to Ross 30 yards out who beat his man before firing a rocket into the top corner to put us 2-1 up, a great strike giving the keeper no chance
Marcus then replaced Taylor as we kept the same shape and looked for that killer 3rd goal
New Inn now threw more men forward but corners and free kicks remained their biggest threat yet we dealt with them comfortably and added our 3rd with 15 minutes remaining when after more UNITS pressure Baker drilled a low cross shot across the box and Hunter on his season debut did well to hold off him man and fire home from 7 yards
Lacey then replaced Jonah as the UNITS were content to see out the remainder of the game
New Inn then threatened twice over the top, Penna & Eggy both making great challenges when the striker was about to pull the trigger, we still looked dangerous on the break and Ross again went close as did Hunter
With 92 minutes on the clock the referee gave a nonsense penalty to New Inn for pushing in the box when the first foul was commited by the New Inn defender who cooly slotted home the penalty himself but seconds later the full time whistle went as the UNITS showed good character to come back from a goal down to seal a valued 3 points
Man of the match went to Jim in the middle of the park who showed excellent desire all over the park and spearheaded a lot of our attacking moves with his direct running
