WE NEEDED THAT
Yeltz 1 Yate 0
13 March 2004
With all the difficulties off the field with Brendan leaving, it was important that we turned things around on the pitch, so with a Lewis Baker goal late in the second half, the mighty Yeltz gained an important 1-0 victory over Yate at The Grove. Well done to everyone involved!
With the table starting to sort itself out now, we're back up to 6th place , with games in hand over the three teams below us. Six of our last ten games are against other teams in the top nine, so it really is all to play for. However if we can just play to our potential, the crucial top seven place should be easily achievable.
No news as yet on the manager front, although there have been several interviews with Brendan saying the reason he left was that some of the board were plotting behind his back to get rid of him.
Anyway, looking forward we've got two matches this week: we visit bottom-placed Cinderford on Tuesday, before visiting title-chasing Cirencester on Saturday. We must be hoping for three points from the first game, and we did beat Cirencester a few weeks ago so we could well get something out of that game too. Let's hope so.
Match Report from DJ
Halesowen Town: Sheils; Colwell, Charlton, Skidmore, Jones, Baker, Hollis, Moore, Hemmings (Strachan 85), Steane (Forsdick 39), Carter. Unused Subs: Gallieri, Grocutt, Mason
Yate Town: Court; Smith, Powell, Ward, Elsey, Metheringham, Wyatt, Campbell, Bennett, Rawlins, Hughes (Pritchard 83). Unused Subs: White, Thompson, Barlass
Referee: C. Williams (Cheltenham) Attendance: 374 Booked: Skidmore (44), Elsey (87), Ward (88) Sponsors' Man of the Match: Simon Forsdick.
Caretaker Manager Colin Brookes and his senior players guided troubled Halesowen to a narrow victory in a game where the much-needed result counted more than the below-par performance
A scrappy first half saw Ben Steane test goalkeeper Tony Court with a 20-yard effort in the 2nd minute and Steve Campbell's 19th minute shot then deflected to Mike Wyatt but he hit wide from 12 yards for in-form Yate. On 21 minutes Jason Moore laid the ball off for Simon Hollis on the overlap but he shot just wide and a minute later a long free-kick from Asa Charlton drifted just over the head of Tony Hemmings in a good position with Court collecting the ball.
Home goalkeeper Mark Sheils then did well to catch a long throw from captain David Elsey in the 26th minute and in the 33rd minute Asa Charlton slipped whilst taking a free-kick and the ball fell for Tony Bennett to speculatively lob just over the bar from 30 yards. Six minutes before half-time Court dived bravely to save at the feet of Hemmings and Halesowen finally won their first corner of the game in the 41st minute. Sheils then caught two long range Yate free-kicks from Campbell and Elsey at the end of a dull first half best summed up by a 45th minute comedy-of-errors when the ball bounced over the head of Dan Jones to set up Matt Rawlins who then hit his shot high over the Shed and out of the ground as he approached goal.
Entertainment remained scant in the second-half with Yate seemingly happy to look for a draw. However, the visitors almost took a 50th minute lead when a suicidally sloppy back-pass from Alfie Carter let in Rawlins to take the ball around Sheils but full-back Richard Colwell raced back to clear his shot off the line. Simon Forsdick lifted the gloom with a clever 59th minute pass into the box for Hemmings but the striker fired inches over the bar when clear on goal. Sheils then turned away a 63rd minute shot from Campbell at the foot of the post with Rawlins hitting the rebound wide and at the other end Hemmings set up Moore to strike just high three minutes later.
The Yeltz finally breached the solid Yate defence with an 80th minute winning goal when Lewis BAKER powerfully headed home a deep free-kick from Charlton from close range.
Halesowen then won two late corners before the final whistle brought relief as the Yeltz finally put their week of difficult news behind them.