Match Report | Needham Market (A)
Halesowen’s struggles on the East Coast continue in a 3-0 defeat against the Marketmen.
Match Report
For the 12th game this season in just 37 matches (32%) of games in all comps, the Yeltz went behind inside the opening quarter hour. It rather felt like that similar sinking feeling of deja vu, as a free kick from just under 30 yards out was placed into the net by Kyle Hammond. The 12th goal we have conceded in the opening 15 this league season, the most of any side in the division. It’s always good to look for positives in a negative, and for so many games this season the Yeltz have reacted well to setbacks, but in the town of Needham in the middle of Feb, it felt different.
The hosts doubled the lead, as a Luke Ingram shot stung the gloves of debutant Dylan Berry so much in the Yeltz goal, he could only palm the ball out to Joe Neal, who rounded the new arrival to tap into an open net and grab his ninth goal of the league season. The late second half revival felt a long way away, and it proved dividant when Needham added a crushing third just before 70 minutes through Hammond’s second of the game and sixth of the league season. The defensive midfielder darted a beautiful shot into the bottom right from a low Myles Cowling cross.
The best Yeltz florish of the contest came in the opening stages weirdly enough. A swerved Jason Cowley shot just missed the stretch of Fin Holmes, and went through to the grateful James Bradbrook in the Marketmen’s goal inside five minutes. Both Ty Barnett and Jak Hickman went close to the target inside the opening 25, but it was the hosts who created the more fruitful pathways to goal.
Goalscorer Kyle Hammond was involved in both chances which resulted in the hosts second minute opener. The Needham number 4 placed a ball out wide to Luke Ingram, whose cross to Myles Cowling saw the latter clip the underside of the bar under pressure from Rob Evans. Five minutes later Hammond nicked the ball off McKauley Manning in the centre to set the hosts on the break. The latter hit a ball to Ingram, who went wide and deliverd a low cross, which was palmed away by Dylan Berry and then cleared by Ben Cassidy.
Russ Penn’s boys in anthracite failed to craft anything other than a Barnett header over the bar in the second part of the first 45. The hosts who now have the fourth best game record in the league proved why they boast such consistency at Bloomfields. A 21st minute cross from Neal down the right was whipped to the back post and to Cowling, who headed over in a promising position.
Five minutes later Ingram was set free down the right yet again, and had plenty of space to pass to Neal on the edge of the D. Hickman got back to give away the corner, which was headed away by Barnett from Hammond’s delivery. On the half hour mark, Neal searched for Cowling in the box and found him. The latter was tackled by Josh Smile on the by-line to give away the corner. The delivery was headed on across the goal line by Kieran Morphew, but nobody was on hand to head home. All of that was just before their second goal as well.
The second goal seemed to kill the life out of both sides. Needham felt comfortable to the point where control was their aim, and we struggled to fathom the confidence to claim a goal back. A Neal shot from distance went just wide, and an early second half shot which went straight into the gloves of Bradbrook from Cowley were the only real highlights until the hour mark. This is when the game turned even worse for the Yeltz, as Kyle Finn was sent off for what seemed to be an off the ball incident. His first red card for the club in 79 appearances.
The Needham third followed just under 10 minutes after the sending off, and this saw a barrage of substitutions having just seen the one beforehand. A 73rd minute shot from Cowling was well saved by Berry, before an audacious but very well executed McKauley Manning style lob against St Ives last month from substitute Jim Kellermann clipped the top of the bar.
As if the hosts couldn’t be any more energised, four enthusiastic players with an average age of 20 were subbed on by Tom Rothery. A 94th minute shot from one of those substitutes, 21 year old Seth Carroll-Chambers curled just wide of the post, but that was the least our worries. Near Yeltz ever present this season, Ben Cassidy, saw us reduced to nine men after he was seen limping off the pitch, although Russ Penn commented that is was no more than a suspected ’stubbed toe’ in his post match interview.
A 3-0 defeat is a detrimental way for our goal difference to slide down, almost taking out the 4-0 win at St Ives at the end of last month. With games in hand, the play-offs are still in our hands, with three huge games, at home to Quorn, and away to Barwell & Bishop’s Stortford to come in the remainder of this very short month.
Attendance: 381
Teams
Needham XI: James Bradbrook (GK), Jake Dye, Tom Smith, Kyle Hammond, Kieran Morphew (C), Luke Ingram (Jamie Mauge 80’), Ollie Saunders (Eddie Barker 75’), Joe Neal (Seth Carroll-Chambers 80’), Myles Cowling (Max Appauh 84’), Ben Hunter, Reggie Lambe
Unused Subs: Dan Morphew
Yeltz XI: Dylan Berry (GK), Jak Hickman, Ben Cassidy, Josh Smile (C) (Jim Kellermann 73’), Jason Cowley, Kyle Finn, McKauley Manning (Reece Mitchell 80’), Milan Butterfield, Rob Evans, Fin Holmes (Ryan Wollacott 63’), Ty Barnett (AJ George 78’)
Unused Subs: Dan Platt (GK)