SUN 28 JAN 07 FRY CLUB COLTS 3 ASHTON BOYS 1 At
last the weather was dry and we had a home game that was on. This was another
vital game that we needed to win against a team that with games in hand could
hover around the top 3. With
Michael Payne ill, Oli Randall slotted into his position
but was not fully fit. This didn’t help as from the kick off Ashton almost
scored after 5 seconds but the shot went wide. From the resulting goal kick,
Craig Francis mis kicked and the ball fell straight
to Danny Caswell who scored to put Ashton Boys in front after just 30 seconds. Oli’s injury ruled him out for the rest of the game so in came Oli Murray to support the defence. Following this bad start, the boys responded
positively taking the game to Ashton and pressing their players every time they
had possession. Our midfield began to dominate and in particular Kyle Curtis
and Danny McCarthy kept their shape to allow Mo Bouaziz
and Charlie Frampton to penetrate into the Ashton half. From a right hand cross
into Craig Andrews his control and turn gave him a first time shot which just
fizzed over the post and bar angle. From a move started by Charlie Frampton,
the ball was knocked to Jordan Knight whose first touch pass to Brad Monelle was floated into the path of Craig Andrews who made
no mistake to deservedly level the scores at 1-1. With 6 corners and 2 free
kicks in the first half, Ashton rarely troubled our defence.
Craig Andrews overhead kick just flew over the bar and
twice Brad Monelle came close with 2 shots that just
missed the target. At half time we had more of the chances but still came off
at 1-1. Our
talk at half time was listened to as we continued to take the game to Ashton.
Lots of space was now opening up down both flanks, and this helped to create
further chances for our strikers. After 54 minutes Brad Monelle
picked the ball up just outside the box. With 4 players between him and the
keeper he had one thought on his mind. He pushed the ball past the first 2
defenders and just poked it too hard past the last 2. However with a great turn
of speed he reached the ball before the keeper and lifted it over to put us 2-1
ahead. From another great corner Oli Murray just
missed a header and the ball just fell too short for
Mo Bouaziz to toe poke home. Charlie Frampton was
supporting the midfield holding his wide support which was allowing good
passing between our defence and midfield. Both Kyle
and Mo were having a big influence on our attacks which in turn was giving Brad
and Craig some excellent opportunities. Craig Andrews fired a thunderbolt
towards the top corner which the keeper somehow tipped over the bar. Brad Monelle also had 2 opportunities which just failed to hit
the net but with 10 minutes to go Craig Andrews made sure of the 3 points with
a close strike to score his second of the game. This
was an important but deserved victory with some really good football from our
boys. This is the standard we need to reach for each of our remaining 7 games By
far this was the most difficult Man of the Match to award this season with good
performances by the whole team including Brad Monelle,
Kyle Curtis, and James Boulton. The player that
showed great consistency and improvement today won the award and that was
Charlie Frampton. SQUAD: Craig Francis, James Boulton, James Hurrell Smith, Oli Murray, Danny McCarthy, Mo Bouaziz,
Dean Lapham, Oli Randall
(Capt), Bradley Monelle, Kyle Curtis, Craig Andrews,
Charlie Frampton, Nathan Dawson, Jordan Knight