Welton Sports were back to league action today looking to protect their unbeaten record of 15 wins out of 15. Stood in their way were a useful Dynamo Varsity side who Welton beat earlier in the season 2-0 but were not convincing. Today gave them the chance to avenge that and also to get over the disappointment of last weeks narrow 3-2 loss in the Ron Eaglen semi-final.
Changes were afoot again due to holidays and work commitments and welton lined up with matt wilks in goal, protected by a back four of conner, dave, danny and phil, midfield 5 of ross, joel, andy, lee and steve with jason left to plough the lone furrow up top.
The social park pitch left a lot to be desired and is in need of some tlc from head groundsman Andy Ottewell to cut and roll the surface ready for their next home fixture in three weeks time. That said welton sports set about the early minutes playing some attractive football without really working the keeper. It was not until around 20 minutes when a lobbed cross found danny at the left hand edge of the box and rather than head the ball as expected he chose to hit it full on the volley and to his and the home supporters delight it rattled the net to the put the home side 1-0 up.
This got the spirits up and the ball was starting to flow more fluidly from defence to attack, the second came not too long after when the ball found it's way to in form striker jason who rounded the keeper and slotted home to give welton a two goal cushion.
Varsity however did not give up and were starting to apply some pressure in a good ten minute spell, this was not to be rewarded by a goal though and with the clock ticking towards half time ross whipped in a lovely left footed cross which was gladly headed home by coops from 5 yards out to make it 3-0. The half time whistle sounded with the game looking pretty much over as a contest, nobody could of predicted what the second half had in store for the neutral fan.
As per last week welton came out feeling confident, in fact perhaps a little too confident. The defence was not really being troubled by varsity and this was allowing welton to produce a series of attacks which finally saw the forth goal come via a powerful effort from ross take a very kind deflection from the varsity no.11 to wrong foot the keeper and fly into the net. It may be one for the dubious goals panel, but at present has gone down as sublime own goal.
The game looked dead and buried so the management made their first change of the day with tom bowey replacing steve smith who had put in a good shift after sorting out some off the field matters in crisis talks with the management late into thursday evening. Within 5 minutes varsity were gifted a goal courtesy of the welton keeper as he scuffed a clearance dropping the ball to the very grateful varsity striker to make it 4-1.
Welton obviously upset by losing such a soft goal set about restoring their four goal cushion. It came after another cynical foul just on the right hand edge of the 18 yard box. It was almost too close to get up and over the wall and being in-direct it was assumed jason would goal for all out power. However the ball was cleverly tee up with one touch to pass, one touch to stop the ball dead and with the onrushing varsity wall jason curled a beauty right into the top left hand corner to make it 5-1
The management team thought now was a good time to give the ever willing coops a rest and on came jacko to sit in the middle of midfield. Welton seemed pretty comfortable, but another lapse in concentration between the defence and keeper gifted varsity another goal to make it 5-2. This seemed rejuvenate varsity and they started throwing the kitchen sink at the welton defence. They were rewarded with another calamitous mistake when a back pass got held up by the overgrown grass and the nippy varsity striker tow ended a very unlikely third goal past the onrushing keeper.
Welton lost control of the game as frustrations started to boil over, to the management teams horror there was still one more error out there and quite unbelievably varsity grabbed a fourth to make it 5-4!! Welton had clearly taken the foot off the gas too early and were being made to pay. After joel had been fouled about 45 times in the match the management team decided enough was enough and swapped young for old ( I mean experienced) as player manager Mark Daly (48 ish) came on to steady the ship.
After ten minutes of madness welton were now starting to get back on top and the sixth goal was exactly the tonic they needed, after a good passage of play the ball fell kindly to connor to slot home his 8th league goal this season and give welton that vital two goal cushion again at 6-4. Varsity had clearly put alot of effort into the fight back and their players were starting to cramp up. The final minutes played out without any real incident and welton secured the three points keeping them on their quest to go unbeaten in the league all season, with 6 games to go this is possible, but they must certainly avoid having a similar period of play like today throughout the remaining games.
Final Score - 6-4 - great game for the neutral, not great for the welton fans tickers!!!
The hard work begins next week when welton sports have a massive game against local rivals scothern in the quarter final of the Kelly reed cup (Kick Off 10:45 Scothern Village Hall). The lads will want to avenge the county cup loss from the start of the season and will be putting everything into trying to progress into the semi where they could face the winners of woodhall spa vs wragby.
Moley Magicians
Jason ***
Joel **
Steve * (bar one horrendous air shot!!!!)