Skem simply had to win - but they failed
SKELMERSDALE United had a great opportunity on Saturday to secure their place in Evo-Stik Division One North for next season, but mainly due to poor finishing in front of goal, they wasted it.
It was simply the game that Skelmersdale couldn’t afford to lose, a win would have put them nine points clear of the one expected relegation place that is occupied by Goole, a draw would have maintained Saturday morning’s six point lead.
However, defeat leaves them under pressure and looking over their shoulders for the remainder of the season.
It possibly didn’t help the Skelmersdale cause that manger Dave Powell had to make four changes to the side that had performed so well at Scarborough last Saturday, that compelled Dave to say that it was “probably overall the best performance we have put in all season”.
Contrastingly in his post match interview on Saturday he very honestly said: “Without doubt the worst performance since I’ve arrived.”
Teams are down in the lower reached of a league for a reason and it was clear that inconsistency and goal scoring were big issues for both teams after a quarter of an hour, when the score should have been 2-1 to Skelmersdale but was in fact 0-0, due to the weak shooting of both teams.
After three minutes a cross from Goole’s Steve Jeff was headed through on goal by Danny South, but clean through Scott Smith managed to miss the target.
Then on six minutes Sam Colbear of Goole slipped and allowed Mwiya Malumo in on goal, but a poor touch allowed goalkeeper Ben Saynor to rescue the visitors.
On eight minutes Scott Bakkor put one wide from 20 yards that he should have done far better with, before on 15 minutes Bakkor beat keeper Saynor to a bouncing ball and headed at goal only to see the ball cleared off the line.
In the 41st minute Goole suffered at the hands of some weak refereeing, Skelmersdale’s Liam Hollett went down with the ball between his feet and Goole’s Danny South went for the ball too, at which point in many considered opinions referee Craig Buxton should have stopped play, he didn’t. Instead South’s challenge turned into a “hacking match”, Hollett stayed down injured and the assistant referee intervened, after a consultation Mr Buxton showed South the red card (presumably for stamping).
It was a thoroughly preventable situation that was allowed to get out of hand.
As the game entered added time Skem must have been looking forward to using their extra man to their advantage in the second-half, suddenly though they were stunned.
Jeff swung the ball in from the right and Smith won a race to reach the ball with Skem goalkeeper Lee Callum Roberts, Smith sent a header over Roberts into the empty net behind him to put Goole one up.
Skelmersdale responded soon after half-time but were dismayed to see the assistant’s raised flag deny them an equaliser via Malumo’s header on 46 minutes.
In the 63rd minute things got worse for Skelmersdale.
Goole substitute Brian Dakouri beat a couple of defenders on the left then released the ball to Smith who beat a couple more himself.
Smith’s shot was blocked and the ball should have been cleared, but it found its way to Chris Walton around the penalty spot, he slammed the ball into the Skelmersdale net to make it 2-0 to Goole.
On 68 minutes a Malumo snapshot brought a brilliant reaction save out Saynor and the ball went for a corner. The flag kick wasn’t cleared properly and dropped to Josh Wardle who from about 15 yards drilled a shot under two defenders and keeper Saynor to put Skem back in with a good shout at only 2-1 down.
However, from that point on the Skelmersdale challenge gradually petered out.
In the 88th minute the frustration got the better of some of the Skelmersdale players. Captain Hollett who had been the target of much of Goole’s vitriol committed a foul on the left-hand side, as the players turned away he was in verbal confrontation with Goole’s Declan Howe, he then felled Howe and was shown the red card by Mr Buxton. It was all over for Skem. Powell commented after the match: “To say I am disappointed would be a vast understatement.
“I don’t think the lads did themselves any credit. It turned into a battle literally. We created plenty of openings.
“Some day we will give somebody a pasting.
“Football is a game where people have to do their own job and I don’t think that has happened with enough players today.
“We weren’t intense enough, we didn’t move the ball quickly enough and we weren’t defending properly”.
It was disappointing for all concerned at Skelmersdale. They had played well in all the previous four away games and based on that, much was hoped for on the big day against Goole and was rightly expected.
It was a very deflating performance and one that creates a great deal of worry.