Droylsden F.C.-The bloods on the net!

LANCASTER CITY 1 - 2 DROYLSDEN

Nationwide North, Saturday 2nd December 2006

Report by Gary Owen

The Bloods took all three points to launch themselves into second spot in the Nationwide North table, but were made to fight hard by the relegation-hanuted Dolly Blues at the Giant Axe.

The first half was almost a case of men aganist boys, as the hosts failed to make any telling impression on the game, whilst the Bloods launched raid after raid on Zac Hibbert's goal.

Indeed, from the kick-off, Droylsden kept control of the ball until Hibbert had to pick it out of the net from Steve Daly's third minute header after he had connected with Steve Jagielka's excellent cross from the left flank.

In a rare home attack, Jimmy Love's shot on the turn flew over for Lancaster, but then Droylsden doubled their lead when the Dolly Blues' defence stood off Chris Denham, who was allowed to fire a left footed effort past Hibbert from 20 yards.

Jody Banim then almost made it three, but his lofted effort over the stranded Hibbert also went wide of the upright.

Hibbert saved well from Daniel Warner's low drive, and from the resultant corner, Carl Ruffer was disappointed to see his bullet header go the wrong side of the post.

No doubt new Lancaster manager, Barrie Stimpson's half-time lecture was a stiff one, and it had the desired effect, as the hosts appeared a different team in the second period, enjoying much more meaningful possession.

It was not all one way traffic, though, as Hibbert had to claw away a Jagielka cross, and Daly almost embarrassed the Lancaster 'keeper when he won possession, but could not turn his effort into the unguarded goal.

However, Lancaster's pressure finally paid dividends, when Jimmy Love benefitted from good work by Paul Rigby to curl a beautiful strike into the far corner from the edge of the box, giving Paul Phillips no chance.

This set-up a nail-biting finish, with Lancaster looking to draw level, but often leaving themselves prone to the Bloods' counter-attack. Kevin Lynch saw his 25 yard shot turned away for a corner, from which Craig Robinson was unlucky to see his header cleared off the line.

Daly then beat the offside trap, and squared for Jagielka. Unfortuately, his pass was too strong, and so Jagielka could only find the side netting with his shot.

With six muntes remaining, the Bloods survivied strong claims for a penalty when Scott Greenwood went down in the box under challenge from Phillips and Jamie Tandy, but a corner kick was their only reward.

Both Banim and Daly went close in the dying moments, as time ran out for Lancaster and another vital three points were added to Droylsden's ongoing drive for promotion.

LANCASTER CITY: Hibbert, Greenwood, Rigby, Swan, Cudworth, Love, Uberschar, Beattie, Connerton, Holmes, Marshall.

SUBS: Durnan (not used), Galley (not used), Helliwell (not used), Henry (not used), Roberts (not used).

DROYLSDEN: Phillips 7, Williams 7, Warner 7, ROBINSON 9, Ruffer 8, Morris 6, Lynch 7, Jagielka 6, Daly 5, Banim 7, Denham 6.

SUBS: Burke (not used), Tandy 7 (for Denham, 39), Howard (not used), Rapley (not used), Halford (not used).

ATTENDANCE: 283

REFEREE: Mr. Andy Newall

SCORERS:

Lancaster City - Jimmy Love (70)

Droylsden - Steve Daly (3), Chris Denham (20)