Pressing LRFC miss out on draw

MIDLANDS DIV ONE

LEICESTER Road FC dropped their first points of the season on their travels after going down to a determined Pelsall Villa side.

Playing last Tuesday night, the Hinckley side dominated the second half of the match, but a Matty Stenton strike halfway through wasn’t enough to take what would have been a deserved point at Pelsall.

It was the visitors who showed an early determination to build on their opening day win and the Pelsall keeper was kept busy in the initial stages as Leicester Road created a couple of half chances that were scrambled away.

Slightly against the run of play Pelsall striker Nathan Stone opened the scoring in the 14th minute converting a through ball leaving keeper Will Highland stranded.

The home side then enjoyed their best period of the game as they sought to increase their lead while Leicester Road were finding the slope and the wind difficult to combat at times. Chances continued to be created at both ends but it was the hosts who increased their lead on 34 minutes when it was Nathan Stones again who hooked the ball over his shoulder and into the top corner to beat the keeper. At half-time the score stood at Pelsall Villa 2-0 LRFC.

From the second half kick off Leicester Road created wave after wave of continuous attacks down the slope, putting the keeper under continual pressure.

Callum O’Sullivan was introduced as an early substitution and his link up play with Matty Stenson threatened the Villa goal on a number of occasions.

It was Stenson who brought the visitors back into the game half way through the second half when he drove in from the left hand side and planted an accurate curling shot into the far corner giving the Pelsall keeper no chance.

At this stage Pelsall were camped in their own half finding it difficult to create much against the determined Leicester Road defence. At the other end Stenson was unlucky not to level when a bobble of the ball on the six yard line denied him an obvious opportunity.

Substitute Kemoy Sewell was introduced into the fray in an attempt to level the scores and he was unlucky when a snap shot came back into play via the post. With the referee adding on some considerable stoppage time, Leicester Road continued to press but it wasn’t to be their night and the game ended with the hosts taking the three points.

Attendance at Pelsall Villa was 88.