DISAPPOINTING
Yeltz 0 Grantham 2
25 October 2005
After our decent run of late, it's a bit disappointing that we lost 2-0 last night at home to Grantham. Two first half goals means we're back into 10th place (I hope - my stats have been a bit unreliable recently!) - although still only 4 points off the play-off zone. More details in DJ's match report.
On Saturday we make what must be our first visit to Cheshunt - let's hope it can be a winning one. I'm off visiting one of the Spanish branches of our supporters club, so updates may be a little slow over the weekend.
Match Report from DJ
Halesowen Town: Coleman; Pierpoint (Steane 74), Harkness, Preston, Pope (Skidmore 79), Cooper, Cowley, Lamey, C. Smith (Amos 74), N. Smith, Forsdick. Unused Subs: Johnson, Haywood.
Grantham Town: Ziccardi; Wooding (Francis 71), Weale, Sturgess, Julian, Brown, F. Smith, Glover, Carruthers (Turner 33), Sneddon (Evans 89), Matthews. Unused Sub: Speed.
Referee: L. Sinclair (Brierley Hill) Attendance: 291
Halesowen could provide no response after falling behind to two first-half defensive lapses.
After four games without a win Grantham made their intentions known when player-manager Lee Glover drilled past the post in the 5th minute.
Alex Cowley cut in for Halesowen in the 7th minute and visiting goalkeeper Mario Ziccardi did just enough to divert the ball away as the hosts forced a couple of corners a minute later. Cowley's 11th minute cross was then almost met by Simon Forsdick at the far post and Nick Smith saw his 17th minute strike from 22 yards tipped over the bar by Ziccardi.
But the Gingerbreads took a 23rd minute lead when GLOVER's quickly taken 20-yard free-kick caught out the home defence and dipped beyond young goalkeeper Dean Coleman. Fabian Smith and Martin Carruthers made a neat 26th minute interchange to earn a Grantham corner and on the half-hour Glover collected a short corner and set up Adam Sturgess to fire at Coleman.
The visitors increased the lead after 35 minutes when Coleman dropped Richard Weale's corner and although he recovered to save from substitute Jason Turner, Michael SNEDDON's looping header found the net from the rebound as the ball ping-ponged around the home penalty area.
Although the Yeltz had plenty of pressure after the break, it was to no avail and Ziccardi comfortably dealt with a number of crosses in an uninspiring second-half. Another Nick Smith drive after 46 minutes produced the same result as the first half as Ziccardi again tipped the ball over the bar from a similar position. The ball then bounced off Tim Wooding's shoulder for a corner on 48 minutes and Ziccardi collected Nathan Lamey's corner a minute later.
On-loan Jon Harkness looked impressive for the home side as his 56th minute free-kick was deflected for a corner and then watched his 64th minute free-kick fall inches wide of the post.
With Grantham happy to sit back and protect their comfortable lead, Turner produced their only chance of the half by shooting wide after being set up by Sneddon on 73 minutes.
Steve Pope limped off after receiving a worrying 79th minute injury and with five minutes remaining Forsdick lost his marker but headed straight at Ziccardi as the game petered out allowing Grantham to leave the Grove with points at the ninth time of trying.