Cleethorpes send Dynamo back home empty handed
EVOSTIK PREMIER LEAGUE DIVISION ONE SOUTH CLEETHORPES TOWN 3 LOUGHBOROUGH DYNAMO 1 CLEETHORPES eased to a 3-1 win against Loughborough Dynamo with a fine attacking display.
After an opening period without much in the way of goalmouth action, the home forward line turned the pressure up on the Dynamo defence without creating a clear chance.
But the pressure on the Dynamo goal was bound to tell and the ball was pulled back from the goal line in the 33rd minute and found Bateson coming in at the far post, the Cleethorpes wide man netting with a low drive.
Dynamo threatened to draw level within two minutes when Piliero found Alistair Smith, who turned in and put his left foot shot just high and wide. But back came Cleethorpes, and they pressured the Dynamo back line relentlessly up to half time.
The best chance of a second home goal in this period came in the 42nd minute, when a through ball bisected Foster and Carl Sibson and found Danny North, but the chance went begging.
Within four minutes of the restart the home side doubled their lead. Another ball pulled back from the goal line found the outstanding Robertson unmarked in the centre of the Dynamo area, and he turned the ball home.
Substitute Danny Durkin, on for an injured Omotola since just before half time, met a long throw from Dan Gordon in the 52nd minute and flicked the ball low to Vince’s right, the home goalkeeper pulling off a good save. A minute later Robertson was able to go around Taylor, but his goal bound shot ran out of steam as it neared goal, and Sibson was able to get back and clear.
Just when it looked as if Cleethorpes would continue to pressure Dynamo, for some reason they started to lose their discipline on the pitch. In the 55th minute North, already on a yellow card from the first half, put in a late challenge on Durkin. Referee Tom Bishop produced a second yellow card and sent North off.
This allowed Dynamo to claw their way back into the match. In the 66th minute Vince dropped a centre under pressure from Hodgkinson, but as the ball ran loose a foul against Hodgkinson was awarded. Three minutes later Dynamo did indeed come back into the game, Vince could not reach a through ball and Smith was able to get on the end of it and place the ball into an empty net.
As the match entered its final minutes it looked like Cleethorpes had done enough to seal all three points. However, they inflicted self-damage when home captain Alex Fleet received a straight red card for leaving Hodgkinson flat out on the pitch following the two challenging for the ball, Cleethorpes going down to nine men for the closing stages.
If this second sending off had occurred some minutes earlier, then Dynamo may have picked up something from the match. But as the game entered stoppage time Cleethorpes broke as Dynamo went chasing the game. Sibson fouled Andrew Taylor in the Dynamo area and conceded a penalty, Bateson scoring from the spot kick to seal all three points.