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

DROYLSDEN 1 – 1 STALYBRIDGE CELTIC

Blue Square North – Monday 16 March 2009

Report by Gary Owen

This was an action-packed derby encounter, full of incident, and was perhaps not surprising given Celtic's form on the road and the fact that Droylsden perform better at the Butcher's Arms. These factors might not auger well for the return in April, but that mattered not to the 700+ faithful on Monday evening.

Added to the spice was the return of former Bloods Paul Phillips and Chris Denham to the Arms, and both played significant parts in the match for different reasons.

Phillips made at least one great save to keep the Celts in the game in the second half, whereas Denham's usual inspections of the grass led to the dismissal of Sean Newton, meaning that Droylsden had to play out the final fourteen minutes with ten men, and it was the ex-Droylsden winger who set-up the Celts' late equaliser.

Both sides enjoyed lots of possession of the ball, but it was the hosts who created the better chances to record more shots on target, but most of those were easy for Phillips.

There were early chances at both ends, with Phillips holding onto an effort from Jamie McGuire and Nathan Joynes shooting narrowly over after a slip by the impressive Steve Halford.

Jake Speight then shot straight at Phillips before Steve Torpey fired wide from 25 yards, with Craig Mawson scrambling across his goal

Steve Beck produced a good shot on the turn, but once again it was right down Phillips' throat.

The Stalybridge ‘keeper was again in the thick of the action on 35 minutes, when he had to race clear to deny Speight with his legs, the ball falling to Neil Sorvel, who found his shot at goal blocked by Ashley Wooliscroft.

Moments later, McGuire fired a yard wide from Tony Gray's knock-down off Sorvel's pass, before Speight sped clear of the ‘Bridge back-line, but the colossal Paul Sykes just managed to stretch out a leg to deflect his shot onto the bar.

The first half saw two bookings, one for each side (Meynell and Halford), but Denham's late challenge on Mawson went unpunished.

Droylsden opened the scoring on 51 minutes when Speight chased after a header on by McGuire, and the former Farsley man's low cross was converted at the near post by Gray, giving Phillips no chance.

Liam Brownhill then saw a shot deflected over for the hosts, before Keith Briggs volleyed wide at the other end after Droylsden had only half-cleared a Celtic free kick.

Two key moments of the game came in the final quarter. Phillips made a great reflex save low to his left to deny Speight, and Sykes blocked Gray's follow-up effort.

Then, on 72 minutes, Newton received the first of his cautions as he breathed down the neck of Denham. The Altrincham loanee threw himself to the ground, arms typically flailing in the air, which was no surprise to the Droylsden faithful, but Mr. Denton flashed his yellow card.

Just four minutes later, both sides fought hard for possession of the ball on Droylsden's right flank, and Newton lunged in on Denham. The Droylsden full-back was convinced he'd won the ball cleanly, but Mr. Denton consulted with his assistant and dismissed the ex-Chester man with a second yellow card.

From the free kick, Briggs was again off target as Steve Torpey sent in a deep free kick to the far post.

Dave Pace decided to sacrifice Speight for Lee Roche to re-shuffle his back-four, which was puzzling as Speight's pace had caused problems for the Celtic rearguard all night. Steve Burr responded by going with three at the back, Rhys Meynell being replaced by Connor Jennings.

The inevitable onslaught came, and Briggs was again unfortunate to see his header fly over as Stalybridge won another free kick. Roche then gifted possession to Jennings, and had to foul the Stalybridge substitute, putting more pressure on The Bloods, and it was Jennings himself who almost converted at the far post from the resultant free kick.

Mr. Denton indicated there would a minimum of five added minutes, and it was in the second of these that ‘Bridge struck level. Denham collected the ball inside the box on the right hand side, and he turned Brownhill to lay a neat square pass to Matty Barlow, whose first time shot took a slight deflection off Halford. However, that hardly changed the flight of the ball and Mawson was beaten as the ball flew into the corner of the net in front of the Celtic supporters.

Steve Beck tried his luck from outside the box, but was a yard off target, leaving Barlow's strike feeling like a winner for The Celts and a defeat for The Bloods. Of course, it was neither, but a draw means an un-awarded point in the fixture, which can only benefit the teams around these two Tameside promotion rivals.

Both teams face tough games on Saturday - Dave Pace has to pick his side up when Southport visit the Arms, whereas Steve Burr's men must feel positive about their late strike to take with them to league leaders, Gateshead.

TEAMS:

Droylsden

Mawson, Brownhill, Newton, Ruffer, Halford, Sorvel (Pickford, 61'), Brown, McGuire, Gray (Lamb, 85'), Speight (Roche, 78'), Beck.

Unused Subs: Byron, Tipton.

Stalybridge Celtic

Phillips, Wooliscroft, Meynell (Jennings, 78'), Keeling, Bowler (Barwick, 60'), Sykes, Torpey, Briggs, Barlow, Joynes (Ellington, 67'), Denham.

Unused Subs.: Wilkinson, Jackson.

Referee: Mr. M. J. Denton (Todmorden, West Yorkshire)

ATTENDANCE: 772