MOORS LAUD ASANTE FOR GIVING LIAM A CUP BOOST

RED-HOT Akwasi Asante struck a goal in each half to secure a vital victory for Solihull Moors over fellow National League strugglers North Ferriby.

And for manager Liam McDonald it was the perfect boost ahead of next weekend’s trip to Luton Town in the FA Cup.

“It was massively important that we bounced back after two defeats,” he explained. “We had a good session on Thursday and I thought we looked a little bit more confident and a little more organised.

“They had a bit of a spell for 20 minutes but we defended properly and I thought we thoroughly deserved the result.

“We’ve brought George Carline in and I thought he did really well. He caused numerous problems. He gives us another dimension and this is a great opportunity for him to show he can perform at another level.”

It was the impressive Carline who had Solihull’s first chance on 17 minutes, heading just wide from a corner. Moments later it was Asante who went close, firing a shot straight at Villagers keeper Rory Watson.

Kyle Wootton was narrowly off target for North Ferriby midway through the half but from then on it was one-way traffic in favour of the hosts.

Asante just missed out on the half-hour but made amends on 32 minutes when he forced the loose ball over the line after a well-struck effort from Jamey Osborne had been parried by the Villagers’ keeper.

Aided by the introduction of lively midfielder Curtis Bateson, the visitors started the second half brightly and within seconds of the restart Wootton was denied by an excellent Danny Lewis save with strike partner Danny Emerton firing the rebound over. Bateson fired an effort wide and the Moors keeper was called into action again to keep out a Ryan Kendall effort. But after weathering the North Ferriby storm, the Moors made sure of victory 14 minutes from time when Asante rolled his marker and let fly with a scorching leftfooted drive into the roof of the net. The visitors’ wretched afternoon was compounded when Bateson was sent off in the final seconds having picked up his second yellow but assistant manager Darryn Stamp was philosophical after the game. “The first half was disappointing after the good run that has seen us unbeaten in three games,” he said. “We knew how big a game it was against a team likely to be down there with us at the end of the season and I thought we could have got something out of the game on the back of our second half performance. “But our big problem this season has been that we’ve not been putting the ball in the back of the net and again we’ve had four or five big chances today – put a couple of those away and it could have different.”