Late goals ensure win for LRFC
HINCKLEY’S Leicester Road FC secured a dramatic 3-2 away win at Brocton FC in Stafford, but left it very late to win a game they largely dominated.
The Road were somehow 2-1 down with just a minute to go, but a drilled drive into the bottom right corner from Amarvir Sandhu, after being played in by Joseph Lyne, brought a deserved equaliser – and then a looping header from Matty Langham (his second of the match) in injury time from a pinpoint Simon Alcott cross claimed a deserved three points and sparked delighted celebrations on the touch line amongst LRFC players and subs.
The Road began very brightly and quick grabbed a stranglehold, with Langham only denied by a last ditch block on 2 mins after good interplay with Lyne and Mark Green, plus Sandhu and Nuno Gomes also went very close with the home defence all at sea. Road keeper Will Highland had to be out smartly to deny the Brocton centre forward on 10 mins, but he was hardly troubled all half as the Road played smart and intelligent football to repeatedly cut Brocton open.
On 16 mins a scuffed Langham strike was blocked on the line and a minute later a teasing Lyne cross just eluded three LRFC players arriving late in the box. Highland did have to save low when a Brocton midfielder burst through the middle, but an immediate clearance from the keeper saw Jordan Burrows bearing down on goal before he was clattered from behind in the box – the first of a couple of good penalty shouts for LRFC.
On 32 mins the Road lost the livewire Gomes to a groin injury, with his place being taken by the rangy Froday Nabay – and he almost made an immediate impact when clean through but his shot was somehow smothered by the Brocton keeper.
Brocton began the second period better and Highland immediately had to hold a fierce goalbound drive. Then on 53 mins the Brocton centre forward Lewars intercepted a pass across the LRFC backline and beat Highland with a vicious strike into the top corner. It was a lead they barely deserved, but goals win matches and LRFC immediately set about finding an equaliser. From an Alcott throw in that Langham flicked on Nabay volleyed just wide, but on 63 mins Burrows got to a through ball in the area just before the keeper and was taken out – with Langham clinically stroking the penalty away to level it at 1-1.
Burrows should perhaps have made it 2-1 on 70 mins after a neat exchange between Green and Nabay set him up, but he scooped it high, and then Highland had to be alert on a cross-come-shot that was creeping in the top corner before he tipped it over. Three minutes later Nabay jinked left and right to find space and crash a shot against the bar from the edge of the box and Langham also had a curling effort deflected just wide – while on 80 mins Sandhu was again felled in full flight on the edge of the box, but it was somehow seen as neither foul nor penalty?
With chances again going begging, Brocton got another lifeline on 82 mins when an innocuous looking cross struck the hand of a stationary Jack Harrison, for a rather fortunate penalty for the home side – which Lewars duly despatched. LRFC weren’t beaten, however, and they poured forward in search of an equaliser, which Sandhu stayed cool to convert on 89 mins.
The Road weren’t satisfied with a point mind and Langham’s superbly cushioned header over the keeper (his sixth in two games) finally killed off a game they could have comfortably sewn up much earlier.
Starting X1: Highland, Alcott, Rudd, Harrison, Lyne, Charles, Burrows, Gomes, Sandhu, Green, Langham. Subs: Blewitt (GK), Humphreys, Nabay.