Reserves defeat a tough one to take

TURTON FC RES.............. 2 ROSSENDALE FC RES .... 0

THE reserves returned to action this week in the specially created regional cup following the suspension of the league in October.

The Stags have been drawn in a group that contains higher league opposition in Turton FC and Hurst Green, alongside Lostock St. Gerard’s and local outfit Haslingden St. Mary’s, with the top two in the group progressing to a knockout stage after playing each other once.

Unfortunately the stags got off to a bad start results wise, with a 2-0 loss to a strong Turton side but they can be more than happy with the way they acquitted themselves.

The sun was shining down which made a tough pitch that little bit tougher to play fast flowing football on as it was extremely bobbly and played into the hands of a much bigger Turton side that wanted to play more in the air than on the deck.

Within 20 minutes the stags were already up against it when they lost two key players in midfielder Jonathan Booth and defender Oliver Williams who both went down with knee injuries and had to come off for the remainder of the game.

The stags shuffled the pack, made some changes and the substitutes that came on more than put in a good performance with debutant Jamie Sanderson stepping upto the reserves for the first time and more than holding his own down the left side.

After the early upheaval the stags began to settle down and find some rhythm in the game. Reeder now playing more centrally was a constant thorn in the side of the opposition and Tom Walker upfront was really putting in the effort and creating chances up top with his tireless work ethic.

Turton were the first to go close when a great strike from the Turton front man that looked destined for the top corner was excellently saved by Rossy keeper Matty Moore.

It wasn’t long before Rossy then had the best chance of the game when substitute Paul Hooper found himself free in between the penalty spot and six yard box, the ball had been pushed out to him from a corner and on his strong foot, all he had to do was volley it into the net and somehow he managed to put it over the bar.

Rossy then upped the pressure as half time approached, Martin Trickett had a cheeky chip lash against the bar and then on the stroke of half time Reeder worked the ball out of midfield, burst through the defence and would’ve been one on one with the keeper but was cynically scythed down by the Turton defender who should’ve been given a straight red but was inexplicably given a yellow card.

Into the second half it was Rossy who kept up the pressure and had another glorious chance to take the lead as Trickett went through one on one with the keeper but pulled his shot wide of the far post.

On 72 minutes Turton took the lead when poor defending allowed a free header from a corner, but the header was very tame and just needed dealing with but Rossy made a mess of it and Milan Tinant somehow managed to hook the ball into his own net under no pressure.

Rossy tried to push forward but couldn’t really create any clear chances. Turton in the end extended their lead when defender Dec Humphreys was poor on the ball, gave the ball away and the Turton striker to his credit fired in from a good 30 yards as Matty Moore struggled to clamber back into his goal.

We caught up with joint manager Jonathan Heap after the game who said: “That result was tough to take as we put in a lot of effort and to come out with nothing doesn’t seem fair, but that’s football and we have to learn from this.

“You have to take your chances when they present themselves and even if you don’t you have to concentrate for the whole game to at least take a point.

“We stressed at half time that the key to this game was concentrating and being disciplined.

“In the end two individual errors cost us and Turton had the quality there to punish those mistakes.

“Our next game is on April 20th now in this cup which isn’t ideal and has left us scratching our heads a little bit, but it may also be a blessing in disguise as we have a few friendlies lined up against some good opposition and hopefully we can get some traction and rust off before what will be a must win game on our return to competitive action.”