Northern
Premier League Premier Division
Spring has sprung at Brewery Field -
sunshine, blue skies, green grass and white lines set the scene on a smashing
day for football. Spennymoor are on a good run, three wins on the bounce have
propelled them to a play-off spot that is even better than it looks as in a
tight bunch they have two or three games in hand on the teams around them.
That group does not include Halesowen Town
who are towards the foot of the table but with sufficient points not to make relegation
a worry. So will they be relaxed and fluent or uninterested and sloppy? A word
on their kit: yellow shirts fine, but ditch the white shorts for black to match
the trim.
The slope at Spennymoor is always an issue
and it looks like the visitors have chosen to start downhill. It seems to suit
them too as they enjoy some early success up front with the strapping Serigne
Diop and the quick Ben Clarke linking well to win a corner and a couple of free
kicks in range of goal. It takes twenty five minutes for Spennymoor to
establish some control and produce a threat, David Dowson’s cross just evading strike
partner Graeme Armstrong.
The home team are trying to build from the
back but it goes wrong when a misplaced pass is intercepted by Diop. He weaves
forward maintaining possession well before offloading to right back Cameron
Steele. Steele shoots from range, the well hit effort bamboozling Daniel Lowson
in goal who looks well placed but just waves an ineffective arm at the ball as
it passes him on its way into the back of the net.
Spennymoor are stung into action and a well-hit
cross into a crowded six yard box results in the ball finding the net and while
the referee signals a goal he does so unconvincingly, and discussions with his
assistant result (correctly) in the award instead of a Halesowen free kick for
hand ball. For the rest of the half the Brewers get no closer than a free kick
hammered straight into a defensive wall.
Halesowen attacks are getting fewer but a
deflected clearance suddenly provides Diop with a run in on Lowson’s goal. The
keeper slips, but then recovers to block at Diop’s feet, the save made at the expense
of a corner and a knock on the head.
In the second half Spennymoor have the slope
and begin to make it count. A free kick from Adam Mitchell is smuggled out for
a corner; that corner is headed back from beyond the far post to create more danger
before being cleared. Shane Henry gets to the by-line but his pull back thumps
into a teammate’s chest and goes dead. An Armstrong volley is hit hard but
wide. Pressure is mounting but there is no panic in the Halesowen defence – by now
a back five with three screening them.
Spennymoor manager Jason Ainsley swaps two
of his front men, bringing on Rob Ramshaw and new signing Connor Smith. Smith gets
an early chance but puts a header wide; Ramshaw however gathers a cross with
his right foot and uses the unusual amount of space afforded him to shift the
ball onto his left before curling an effort inside the far post. It is a good
goal and a deserved equaliser with still twenty minutes left.
Ainsley turns the screw by replacing
Armstrong with Glen Taylor whose considerable height and skill enables a more
direct approach. As the game enters the last five minutes Smith has a shot
blocked and Jamie Chandler fires the rebound wide, Taylor has a sight of goal
but screws a shot past the post, and into added time a Ramshaw header lacks
power to trouble goalkeeper Daniel Platt.
At the final whistle the “Yeltz” celebrate a
hard-earned draw while the Moors ponder whether this was a point won or two
dropped. At least momentum has not been lost as they head into two crucial games
against promotion rivals – Warrington away and Nantwich at home - which will go
a long way to determine how their season pans out.
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