Pontefract Give Premier League Champions a Fright in President’s Cup

Pontefract Collieries followed up their winning start in the Northern Counties East League First Division by giving the reigning Premier League Champions Bridlington Town a real fright in the President’s Cup at Beechnut Lane on Tuesday. However, despite leading the champions for three quarters of the match, Colls manager Simon Houghton was furious with his team for throwing away a match that they would have had won before they allowed their opponents back into the game.

The Pontefract side, who had qualified for this prestigious competition for the first time in eight years by virtue of their fifth-place finish in last season’s league, were anything but overawed by the prospect of facing the best team in the competition in the first round. In fact, any neutral observer would have assumed that the Colls were the highest-placed side on the evidence of the first hour of the match.

Once the game had settled down after a niggly opening period, the home team dominated possession and chances, with midfielders Paul Haigh and Ryan Sykes putting their stamp on proceedings with combative and commanding displays. In fact, it was Haigh who put Jason Bentley through for the first opportunity of the match. With Bentley and Joe Thornton shining up front for Colls, they carried the greater goalscoring threat, and it was this combination that opened the scoring: Thornton’s shot resulting in a corner, which led to Bentley stroking home a perfectly placed shot into the bottom corner of the Bridlington net.

In fact, such was Pontefract’s dominance, that their more illustrious neighbours were restricted to a sequence of speculative long-range efforts as the first half drew on, while the home side continued to carve out a host of good scoring opportunities. With both Alex Rhodes and Ash Allanson shooting well wide from outside the box, Pontefract were happy to allow their opponents to become frustrated. However, while Colls seemed able to create scoring opportunities at will, their profligacy in front of goal was matched by the excellence of Bridlington keeper Mark Wilberforce.

Such was Wilberforce’s mastery that, even when his own left back deflected a Poskitt cross towards his own goal, he made a difficult save look easy. As Ponte gained momentum, Joe Thornton set off on one of his trademark runs, only to lose the ball just as he shaped to shoot. Thornton, being possessed of a midfielder’s tenacity to add to a left winger’s trickery, battled to win back the ball, only to see his volley fly over the crossbar. Within seconds, the ever-reliable Twibey floated a ball into the path of Bentley – once again, the Bridlington keeper had his angles perfect, and Bentley could only float his shot high and wide. As Pontefract pressed, the champions were saved repeatedly by a combination of their high defensive line and the referee’s assistant’s flag, and their exceptional keeper. As Bentley continued to shine and threaten, the Pontefract faithful began to trot out such clichés as “you need to score when you’re dominating” and “the only worry is we should be three up” as the first half drew to a close.

They were right on both counts : (1)  Pontefract should have been out of sight, and (2) they would regret it! When Bentley was presented with a one-on-one against the Bridlington keeper in the early minutes of the second half, yet again the keeper kept his side in the contest. The seasiders seemed to grow from the knowledge that they should have been dead and buried, while Pontefract seemed to sense that they had missed their chance to kill the game off. When Brid’s Harrison sent a thundering shot towards the Colls top corner, it seemed as though the equaliser had arrived: however, the young Russell pulled off a save that maybe should have waited for the presence of the ITV cameras on Saturday, palming the goal-bound shot away to his right. Bridlington’s manager had seen enough: a double chance saw Hogg and Barber replace the ineffective Lyon and Moody, while Simon Houghton responded by replacing the tiring Bentley with the returning Fothergill. The changes clearly favoured the visitors, and within six minutes they had converted a deficit into a win. First, Craig Hogg smashed a left foot shot past Russell; a minute later, captain Tom Fleming ran through a static defence to put his side in front; three minutes later, Hogg struck again, confidently heading home a free-kick to give his side some daylight.

Despite some good late work from Brad Thompson and Carl Fothergill, Ponte were unable to respond, and fell to defeat in a match they had led for so long. After 180 minutes of football at Beechnut Lane this season, Pontefract have thrilled, impressed and frustrated in equal measure. The solidity of last season has been enhanced by the injection of real pace and incisiveness through the introduction of the likes of Thornton, Bentley and Goodyear, and the class of Forgione to an already strong defence, while the stalwarts of the last campaign continue to grow into a more controlled, expansive game. However, manager Simon Houghton will doubtless be frustrated by his team’s failure to convert dominance into goals, and their habit of conceding through basic errors and lapses in concentration.

In the final analysis, Pontefract were disappointed to lose this match, having dominated for the majority of the game and led for more than an hour. That they did not was due to the clinical finishing of Hogg and Fleming, the goalkeeping brilliance of Wilberforce, and the Colls’ own failure to finish the opportunities they worked so hard to create. If Pontefract can add a clinical ruthlessness to their finishing at one end and an extra 10% in their concentration at the other, then the future can look extremely bright for this enterprising team.

Pontefract Collieries:

Shaun Russell, Dean Twibey, Paul Staniforth (captain), Luke Forgione, Johnny Forsyth, Paul Haigh, Ryan Poskitt, Rian Sykes, Jason Bentley (Carl Fothergill, 64), Craig Stephens (Lee Garside, 77), Joe Thornton (Bradley Thompson, 72)

Subs not used: Craig Goodyear, Connor Rollinson

Goal: Bentley (13)

Bookings: Paul Staniforth (74)
Sending off: none