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

BLYTH SPARTANS 1 – 3 DROYLSDEN

Blue Square Bet North – Saturday 10 September 2011

Report by Gary Owen

A moment of madness from Nat Kerr threatened to press the self-destruct button for Droylsden mid-way through the second half, but striker Danny Rowe’s fourth and fifth goals of the season late on rescued matters.

Spartans had won a free kick on the right flank when Dan Groves was looking for a penalty against Carlos Logan. It was questionable whether or not it was a foul, but it was clearly outside the box. Wayne Phillips floated the ball to the far post where Shaun Vipond beat Kerr to win the header, but it went straight to Paul Phillips.

The danger hence appeared to be over, but as Phillips was about to clear, Kerr and Vipond were getting to their feet, and the Droylsden defender somehow thought it was permissible to rugby-tackle the Blyth forward to the floor, and Mr. Davison pointed to the spot. Phil Cave found the bottom corner from 12 yards.

That goal levelled Steve Hall’s opener for the visitors on 56 minutes, after a rather drab first half, when Droylsden failed to test debutante ‘keeper David Knight, on loan from Histon. Phillips, however, was far busier, having to palm away a piledriver from Cave, before the Droylsden stopper mis-judged a cross from his name’s sake, but Groves was unable to convert at the far post.

Phillips was at full stretch to save from Blyth winger, Wayne Phillips, and then gathered in from Groves.

Another half-time roasting must have done the trick, as Droylsden took the lead eleven minutes into the second half. Hall latched on to a great pass from Rowe to drive under Knight from a tight angle.

There was a let-off for The Bloods when Graeme Armstrong screwed horribly wide from a central position just inside the box, but then came Kerr’s rush of blood to the head enabling the hosts to level matters.

Kerr was in the thick of the action again when he mis-judged the ball presenting Lee Mason with a free run at goal, but he fluffed his lines and Phillips gathered.

Droylsden showed some late momentum and James Vaughan’s run from the half-way line resulted in Knight having to tip over his effort. Blyth failed to fully clear the resultant corner, which Rowe kept alive and beat Knight from an even tighter angle than Hall had earlier to give Droylsden a late lead on 87 minutes.

In the 90th minute, Rowe again led the Spartans defence a merry dance and drilled past Knight to secure a hard-fought win.

TEAMS

Blyth Spartans:

Knight, Groves, Cave, Jones, Coulson (Emms, 88’), Buchanan, Forster (Mason, 60’), Hooks, Armstrong, Vipond (Slaughter, 70’), Phillips W.

Subs. not used: Purvis, Crook.

Droylsden:

Phillips, Anane, Logan, Kerr (Brown, 78’), Hardiker, Brown, Hall, Gardner (Vaughan, 82’), Killeen, Kilheeney, Rowe, Poole (Johnson, 61’)

Subs. not used: Langford, Lake.

ATTENDANCE: 488

REFEREE: Mr. Davison