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

DROYLSDEN 0 – 3 FARSLEY CELTIC

BLUE SQUARE PREMIER – Tuesday 9 October 2007

Report by Gary Owen

It was a case of "After the Lord Mayor's Show" at the Butcher's Arms on Tuesday evening, when the Bloods were just not at the races and were a shadow of their former selves when compared to events of 48 hours earlier.

Indeed, given three points from either this match or the Oxford one, many pundits would have rather lost to Oxford, but have beaten Farsley.

In the end, a Jeckyll and Hyde performance by the same starting eleven left the Butcher's Arms faithful bemused as to how a team can play so well one day, but turn in such a poor performance two days later.

Perhaps it was the fact that Farsley didn't play on Saturday, so were the fresher of the two sides, but given that the Bloods had put themsleves in a better position going into this game, it remains a mystery as to why they could not perform.

The Celts took the game to their hosts from the kick-off, forcing a few corners and putting the home side under pressure, with Lee Tuck firing wide after just five minutes.

Home ‘keeper Paul Phillips was then happy to punch away a Simeon Bambrook volley, before the opening goal arrived on 21 minutes. Stephen Downes found himself in acres of space down the right flank and fired a dangerous cross into the Droylsden box, which Jamie McGuire could only turn past his own ‘keeper, but Amjad Iqbal may claim the final touch.

Just a minute later, the Celts could have doubled their lead, but Phillips as out smartly to deny Damian Reeves, despite looking yards offside.

Droylsden's first real effort on goal came just shy of the half hour mark, when Steve Daly forced Morgan into a low save to his right from Dale Stephens' header.

Morgan required lenghty treatment following a collision with Steve Halford, and in added time Jody Banim had a goal chalked-off for the hosts due to an earlier offside.

As expected, Droylsden were more of a force as the game re-started, but they never really stretched Wilberforce in the Farsley goal.

Daly almost benefitted from confusion between Wilberforce and Downes, but the Celts' full back recovered to hook clear.

Chris Denham then beat Michael Pearson to sting Wilberforce's palms, but there was no Bloods player on hand to benefit from the loose rebound.

However, in a 7 minute spell, Farsley put the game beyond doubt with two stunning strikes by Bambrook.

Firstly, on 68 minutes, he held off the attentions of Halford to drive into the far corner from the tightest of angles, and then topped that with an exquisite shot from 22 yards, which flew inches inside the right hand post to give Phillips no chance on 75 minutes.

Droylsden created chances towards the end, but the damage was irrepairable by this stage, as efforts from Gareth Morris, McGuire, Terry Fearns and Jamie Tandy all came to nothing to conclude a miserable evening, which leaves the Bloods languishing in the relegation places, and having lost to two of their closest rivals.

Of course, there is still much football to play between now and next Spring, but Droylsden must maintain the types of performances that ran Burton and Torquay mightily close, and that defeated Oxford – displays like this one can only mean one outcome.

TEAMS

DROYLSDEN (3-4-3): Phillips, Halford, Cryan, Murray, McGuire, Lynch (Gibson, 67), Stephens (Morris, 76), Tandy, Banim, Daly (Fearns, 76), Denham.

Subs. not used: Burke, Senior (G/K).

FARSLEY CELTIC (4-4-2): Morgan (Wilberforce, 46), Downes, Pearson, Crossley, Serrant C., Iqbal, Knowles, Billy, Bambrook, Reeves (Grant, 60), Tuck (Allanson, 85).

Subs. not used: Jackson, Heath.

REFREE: Mr. R. J. Wigglesworth (Rotherham, South Yorkshire)

ATTENDANCE: 624