YELTZ KEEP ROLLING ALONG
Yeltz 3 Taunton 1
16 December 2003
The mighty Yeltz moved up to 3rd place in the table with an impressive 3-1 victory over Taunton. Despite going behind early on, we came back with two from Simon Hollis and another from the happily available Steve Pie-arce in a fine display of attacking football.
On Saturday our last game before Xmas takes us down to Mangotsfield. They're on an awful run of form, so let's hope we can continue our good run and continue the chase after the leaders.
Match Report from DJ
Halesowen Town: Lowe; Reece, Charlton, Smith, Jones, Skidmore (Hallam 80), Hollis, Ashby (Colwell 89), Piearce, Steane, Spencer. Unused Subs: Small, Baker, Sheils
Taunton Town: Edwards; Sheppard (Taswell 61), Dicks, Duff, Watson, Kelly, Fields, Douglas (West 80), Foster, Harris, Fisher. Unused Subs: Peckham, Mogg
Referee: P. Thompson (Chesterfield) Attendance: 294
Halesowen climbed into 3rd place in the league after fighting back from behind with their exciting brand of attacking football.
Taunton started brightly and forced four consecutive corners in the first minute with home goalkeeper Matt Lowe tipping the ball over the bar from Gary Fisher. Grantley Dicks then struck a 20-yard free-kick inches over the Halesowen bar in the 12th minute before Danny HARRIS gave the visitors an 18th minute lead when he planted a header down into the Halesowen net from close range from Tom Kelly's dangerous right-wing corner. A half-volley from Dicks then rolled past the post before the Yeltz clicked into gear.
On 23 minutes Jason Ashby did well to win the ball on the left and he crossed for Simon Hollis but he volleyed wide when clear on goal. HOLLIS then equalised in the 27th minute with a super 25-yard strike that left goalkeeper Paul Edwards floundering. A minute later Andy Spencer's cross took a looping deflection and almost beat the back-tracking Edwards.
After the half-time break, Ben Steane worked through a packed Taunton defence and set up Hollis to drive just wide. Taunton were increasingly pushed back into their own half although Matt Lowe grabbed a good corner-kick from Martin Douglas on the break in the 55th minute. Steve Piearce curled just wide in the 57th minute from the edge of the area before HOLLIS powered home a left-wing cross from Dominic Reece with a perfect header into the top corner in the 59th minute to put Halesowen ahead.
With Halesowen looking increasingly dangerous, a pacy break from defence in the 64th minute saw Ashby dash down the right and set up the in-rushing Hollis looking for his hat-trick but he hit the side-netting when free in the penalty area. Edwards then turned away a goal-bound 25-yard screamer from Steane for a corner a minute later.
Steve PIEARCE added a third goal in the 75th minute to maintain Halesowen's eight-game unbeaten league run with a bullet header from a Hollis corner leaving Edwards well beaten again. Edwards then held onto Piearce's 15-yard shot in the 83rd minute and substitute Mark Hallam should have added a fourth goal two minutes from time but struck Steane's cross wide from ten yards.