Skem stop the rot with pleasing point
SKELMERSDALE United are still in search of that elusive first league success of the season. But they came close to achieving that aim against their visitors from Staffordshire on Saturday, in a game that saw both goalkeepers getting the Man of the Match awards and both teams looking to sharpen up their finishing in front of goal.
Dave Powell’s team made their intentions very clear straight from the off and but for a quality diving save from Newcastle goalkeeper Matt Johnson after just 40 seconds they would have taken the lead.
Popular left-back Jack Fleming saw off two challenges before putting in a well struck left-foot shot from 25 yards.
Skelmersdale were the best team for the opening half-hour, young central midfielders Will Dunne and Alex Griffiths aided by the strong running Kevin Edgar creating plenty of problems for the visitors.
In the 21st minute Edgar put the ball across the face of goal but it got no touch, then a minute later Edgar brought a good save out of Johnson after Sean Yeldrem set him up, before on 25 minutes Yeldrem was also thwarted by Johnson.
All that culminating in a thunderous shot from Griffiths that missed by inches.
Skem almost grabbed the lead five minutes before half-time, Dunne sold his marker a dummy turned and put a shot from 25 yards fractionally wide, leaving keeper Johnson flatfooted in the process.
Skelmersdale justifiably went into the interval thinking this was winnable.
Immediately after the restart Davie Moore put one over the Newcastle crossbar, then on 48 minutes Newcastle produced their best move so far when a good pass from Taylor Attreil gave Kyle Stubbs the chance to put a wonderful ball to the near-post, but Skem were let off when Jack Van der Laan fired wide.
It had never been a dull game, but until just before the end it became quite exciting stuff.
Young put a first time shot wide for Newcastle then James Galloway put in a cross that Johnson fumbled under pressure from Griffiths, the midfielder stuck the loose ball into the net, but the goal was ruled out for a foul on the keeper.
In the 64th minute keeper Johnson pulled off a magnificent save.
Tom Molyneux lifted the ball into the box and Edgar met it with a diving header, it was going in until Johnson threw himself to his left to palm the ball to safety.
In the 80th minute Newcastle had what was arguably the best chance of the match.
Substitute Jonny Kapend put Chris Smith into the clear, his shot from 15 yards was low and going into the net, but Skem goalkeeper Terry Smith matched his rival at the other end with an excellent diving save to his right.
The game changed in the 83rd minute, it is still unclear exactly why but after consulting his assistant referee Alex James sent off Kapend.
It may have been for dissent to the assistant but that would only be speculation.
Now reduced to ten men, understandably Newcastle went back onto the defensive.
The result no more end to end attempts to win the game, now just Skelmersdale were on the attack but the best they could produce was a promising cross from Yeldrem and a shot over the bar by Edgar, in the end the game just petered out.
For a 0-0 draw it had been a good game, both teams tried to win it but couldn’t.
Both goalkeepers had a big say in the outcome and deserve a great deal of praise for their performances.
Overall it was probably Skelmersdale’s best effort all season and they must take heart from it going into three tough games over the next week or so.
In his after match interview Skelmersdale manager Dave Powell said: “It was good to get a point, but we could have had three.”
After praising both goalkeepers he added: “I thought it could have gone either way but on the balance of play, possession and control of the game I think we deserved more than a point, but we’ll take it, it is a positive.”