Familiarity leads to damp squib
AS so often happens when we have back to back games the second match is a bit of a damp squib, both teams know each other and so are able to cancel each other out and that’s just what happened on Sunday when Harrogate visited EP.
The first half especially saw a lack of effort on goal, from both sides.
There were wayward passes and dodgy tackles that the referee should have clamped down on but on the whole the first 45 minutes were forgettable.
At half time Jim made a substitute, replacing Boxing Day’s hero, Courtney Meppen-Walters, with Mark Ross. The tempo of our game was instantly upped.
Both Sam Minihan and Scott Duxbury found themselves able to push forward and both did, several times they crossed the ball into the penalty area but too many times the ball was played behind the onrushing Lloyd or Odejayi but you just knew the goal was coming.
When Michael Clarke rose highest to open the scoring the Cheadle End let out not only the biggest cheer of the afternoon but also a collective sigh of relief, surely the sixth win on the trot was here.
We continued to press the Harrogate defence and not too long after the goal, Danny Lloyd, a constant threat, was up ended inside the box, a more obvious penalty you’ll be hard to find that is unless you’re the ref.
He was probably the only man at EP who didn’t see anything wrong with the challenge but then why did Danny have to leave the pitch? He didn’t foul himself!
Still, we were cruising to a win; there was no threat from the Yorkshire side, all we had to do was keep possession and run the clock down but in true comedy fashion we snatched a draw from the teeth of victory.
Why Gary Stopforth, under very little pressure, felt the need to pass back from the half way line I’ll never know, how Ben Hinchcliffe allowed the ball to run under his foot, again, I’ll never know but two of the most reliable men on the team conspired to concede the daftest own goal since Ian Dowie, a goal that ultimately cost us two points that at t he end of the season could be so costly.
If the two results had been reversed, a draw away and a win at home, we’d have been very happy, at least we’re unbeaten in 2017.