Pontefract fight back to share the spoils with Staveley

Staveley Miners Welfare 3:3 Pontefract Collieries
Saturday 30th October, 2010

The meeting between the top two teams in the NCEL First Division at Inkersall Lane was dramatic and entertaining, with both sides settling for a share of the spoils having spurned chances to take all three points from their rivals. The game – billed as a real “six pointer” given their rivalry at the top of the table, may not have provided either team with a six point swing in their favour, but it did provide six goals, and several clues as to why the two teams lead the way in this season’s promotion race as the half-way point draws closer.

With the demands of an arduous season in mind and a big month ahead for the club, Simon Houghton rang the changes for the match. Matt Wilkinson was rewarded with a starting place following his return to fitness and a fine midweek performance in the Reserves, with Carl Fothergill and Craig Stephens selected to start up front. In midfield, Paul Haigh and Rian Sykes won the nod over Josh Wright, as Wright seeks to reach match fitness following injury and illness. With a must-win local derby against Glasshoughton in the County Cup looming, Houghton ensured that several key players will be fresh for starts on Tuesday night, together with the returning Johnny Forsyth, who joined the squad for the trip to Chesterfield.

Unlike recent games, Pontefract were first out of the blocks. Within seconds of the referee’s whistle, Joe Thornton executed a sublime 1-2 with Carl Fothergill, before sending a warning shot into the arms of Staveley ‘keeper Ian Deakin. However, Staveley responded in kind, with Ryan Damms sending a 25 yarder towards Andrew Joburns who overcame a horrendous bounce to parry the ball away to safety. The Colls set up another attack immediately, with Ryan Poskitt running directly at the heart of the Staveley defence, jinking past two men before being fouled just outside the box. Thornton took the free-kick, sending a rocket shot goalwards. A Staveley defender flung his arms up in self-protection, clearly handling the ball away to safety, with everybody in the ground other than the officials expecting the award of a penalty to ensue.

The away team’s sense of injustice was heightened seconds later when Chris Coy stamped on the knee and shin of Luke Forgione, the foul being missed entirely by the referee, even as the man referred to as “Fudge” lay stricken on the ground. As the game settled down following the intense opening exchanges, Pontefract grew in influence – dominating both territory and possession as the half drew on. Poskitt engaged on another of his trademark runs, beating three players before teeing up Thornton, whose effort flew high, wide and not so handsome.

When called upon to defend, Pontefract held firm. Matt Wilkinson conceded a free-kick on the edge of the box – allowing his passion to spill over as he dived in and caught Coy. The ensuing free-kick was well saved by Joburns, diving low to his right, before Nicky Handley responded first to steer the rebound away for a corner.

With Sykes and Haigh picking up all the bits and pieces in midfield, Pontefract continued to drive forward. A fine Haigh pass released Fothergill, who exasperated team-mates by eschewing options to right and left in favour of shooting harmlessly at Deakin from 30 yards. Staveley’s Andrew Fox gave Ponte a hint of things to come, when a long-range shot rattled off Joburns’ left post with the ‘keeper stranded, following the only spell of sustained Staveley pressure in the first half. Luke Forgione – manfully playing through the pain of a stud-damaged right shin – read a Joe McGuire pass perfectly, intercepting the ball before striding forward and releasing Thornton on the left. The Colls winger drove past the full-back Handbury, before sliding a dangerous ball across the face of goal into the “no man’s land” between goalkeeper and retreating back four. The only thing missing was a final touch to steer the ball into the net, as neither striker could quite reach the ball.

Sensing that Thornton had the beating of his marker, Wilkinson drove a diagonal long ball into the winger’s path. Thornton nipped the ball away from the onrushing ‘keeper, but was driven too wide to find the goal, choosing to cross instead of shooting from such an acute angle. Again, the cross evaded all concerned, and the home side breathed again. Their relief did not last long: Sykes won the ball in the middle of the park, releasing Craig Stephens down the left channel. Stephens beat a man before lifting his head and picking out an inch-perfect pull back to his strike partner. Fothergill showed his usual ruthlessness in front of goal by sliding the ball into the bottom corner of the Staveley net with clinical accuracy.

Pontefract then stuck to type and endured their customary nervous moments in the aftermath of a goal: firstly, Damms’ shot ricocheted off two defenders, before skipper Handley nodded a dangerous through ball calmly back to his keeper, under close attention of the dangerous Coy. As Staveley sought immediate parity, the ball ricocheted around the Ponte box like a pinball, before Wilkinson delivered a decisive touch to thump it clear. After the two minutes panic, Pontefract got hold of the football and countered. Haigh instigated the best move of the match, winning a ball on the edge of his own box with a crunching challenge, before playing a series of 1-2s off Poskitt and Sykes as he worked his way down the field. When Haigh loaned the ball to Fothergill, the striker gave it back with a delicate ball which invited a shot, and Haigh did not disappoint, sending a thundering shot towards to top corner of the Staveley net. As the Pontefract bench rose to cheer their second goal, Deakin pulled off a remarkable save to deny their joy. Haigh completed a purple patch by protecting his back four with a crunching tackle followed by a brain-rattling header to charge down a Coy volley.

With Handley in commanding form, Forgione showing great quality and Luke Smith reading the game masterfully, Pontefract defended stoutly when called upon to do so: quick to close down, decisive in the challenge, and covering all blind-side runs. Upon such a firm platform, the away team could build attacks with confidence, as they sought to double their lead before the interval. They were denied by an offside call against Thornton as he set up a one-on-one against the ‘keeper, before Thornton set up a chance for Stephens with a flighted ball to the far post. Stephens rose above the defence to meet the cross, but could not direct the header into the back of the Staveley net.

As half-time neared, Stephens was again denied, by a last-ditch tackle from Daniel Robinson, having been played through by an intelligent nod from Fothergill. Although the half ended with Wilkinson putting in a perfectly timed tackle to deny Staveley and Joburns rushing out to snuff out a through ball, the over-riding feeling among the away supporters at the interval was that the team deserved to be leading by more than a single goal, on the balance of play. Certainly, they had enjoyed the bulk of the chances, while a determined defence had closed down Staveley threats without too many scares.

How the match would change in the second half! When Rian Sykes conceded a free kick on the edge of his own box at the start of the half, the tone was set, although the resultant set piece came to nothing. Staveley seemed to have agreed a game plan of getting the ball early to Coy and Damms, even if this required long balls behind the Ponte defence. Although Forgione, Smith, Joburns and – again – Forgione dealt comfortably with the first four of these passes, the impetus had changed, with Pontefract on the back foot, and the defence responding by sitting deeper and deeper and, crucially, forgetting the intensity in closing down the ball that had served them so well before the interval. Staveley took heart, and pushed their visitors backwards. When Damms sent a 25 yard shot wide, this was just the appetiser.

With Pontefract entering the final 35 minutes protecting a single goal lead, by the hour mark they would be losing trailing 3-1. Coy started the onslaught by turning Handley, before smashing in a near-post shot into the roof of the net past a stunned Joburns.

Before the celebrations among the home crowd had subsided, their team were leading, through a crashing 40-yard shot from Robinson, that flew beyond the outstretched hand of Joburns into the top corner of the net. Despite several exceptional performances in recent weeks, the Ponte ‘keeper must be sick of the sight of long-range efforts, having been beaten twice from such distance in the last three games by goals that no goalkeeper in the world could have saved.

Within two minutes, it was three! Danger man Coy cut in from the left flank and, emboldened by the absence of any pressure from the Ponte midfield or defence, stroked another long-range effort into the top corner of the net.

At 3-1 down, Pontefract were a beaten side. Shellshocked by their hosts’ wonder goals and the speed of the change of fortunes, they ensured a ten-minute spell of lethargy and ineptitude, relieved only by a fine move in which Stephens played a 1-2 off Thornton, beat two men down the left wing, before sliding another of the teams’ trademark “no man’s land” balls across the face of the goal. Again, the ball evaded the striker – this time Fothergill – by mere inches. Between Stephens and Thornton, a half-dozen of these dangerous balls had been delivered into the Staveley area throughout the afternoon. On any normal day, the law of averages dictate that such a quantity of teasing crosses would yield at least a couple of goals. This, however, was not a normal day, and every single one evaded the advancing strikers by a matter of mere inches.

The respite was temporary, as Staveley sensed blood and went for the jugular, pouring forward with a certain belief that their own superiority and their visitors listlessness would combine to ensure that the home side extended their lead. With twenty minutes to go, a bookie seeking a par score for spread-betting would have settled on 5-1 or 6-1. He would have been wrong – the game was about to swing again.

In testament to the strength in depth of the Pontefract squad, it was three substitutions that changed the game. Firstly, the introduction of Josh Wright, Lee Garside and Jason Bentley gave the team fresh impetus at a time when they were in dire need of such an injection. Within minutes of the introduction of Wright, the team was transformed from resembling a boxer trapped against the ropes waiting for the final blow to be administered to an aggressive counter-puncher, fighting his way out from the brink of oblivion.

Crucially, the team started to get control of the ball and push Staveley back. More specifically, all three substitutes made game-changing contributions to the goals. Within minutes of the double introduction of Bentley and Garside, the two had combined to reduce the deficit to a single goal. Bentley was fed by a Wright pass, and used his pace to hit the byline down the right wing. Bentley slid an inch-perfect ball across the goalmouth and, whereas earlier such balls from Thornton and Stephens had evaded the onrushing strikers, this one was met by a determined Garside and duly nestled in the bottom of the Staveley net.

As quickly as momentum had swung towards the home team earlier in the half, it now swung towards the away team as they drove forward in search of an equaliser, their belief restored and their urgency renewed by the goal. Garside led the line like a man on a mission – closing down Staley on his own goal-line to win a corner when he had no right to do so. As the visitors drove forward, another substitute took a central role. Josh Wright, having started the move that led to the second goal, set up the equaliser with a sensation piece of individual play. Picking up the ball just inside the Staveley half, the classy midfielder beat three players, driving into the Staveley box. As he shaped to shoot, his legs were taken from under him. Although the referee inexplicably missed the foul, his assistant did not, flagging furiously until the hapless official notice his colleague and awarded the spot kick.

As the home team protested and the crowd drew breath, up stepped Luke Smith. The calmest man on the pitch, seemingly oblivious to the stress of the crowd, the rumpus among his opponents, and the attempts to intimidate him through verbal volleys, calmly stroked the spot kick beyond Deakin to level the scores.

Neither team was finished just yet. Substitute Jamie Smith shot wide from 25 yards (maybe he should have tried his luck from 40?) before Garside and Thornton combined to set up a chance which drifted wide. Both sides failed to convert chances in injury time, with Bentley being denied by an outstretched hand from Deakin as he rounded the keeper, before Staveley missed a last-minute chance of their own.

After such a thrilling and turbulent encounter, Pontefract’s followers will not have known whether to celebrate a point – which would have seemed impossible as the game entered its final half hour – or decry dropping points in a game in which they created the majority of chances, dominated the first half and could have killed off the game before the interval, and finished the stronger. Overall, the two teams provided a spectacle of which the NCEL could be proud, thrilled and entertained all those lucky enough to be inside the ground, and battered each other to a draw. Certainly, Staveley would have felt unlucky to lose a game they seemed like winning comfortably and in which they scored three great goals. It truly could be argued that the game was a real six-pointer – each side deserving three apiece!

In the final analysis, Simon Houghton was both livid and delighted: furious that his side could defend so poorly at the start of the second half and frustrated that opportunities to take the game out of the reach of their opponents were squandered; delighted by the indomitable spirit that saw his side fight back from 3-1 down to rescue a point, and the strength in depth of his side on a day which saw three substitutes completely transform the game. With the unbeaten league run extended to nine games, the team are neatly placed on the shoulder of the leaders, ready to launch a continued assualt on the championship as the season reaches its half-way mark.

Pontefract Collieries: Andrew Joburns, Matt Wilkinson, Luke Smith, Nicky Handley (captain), Luke Forgione, Paul Haigh (repl. Josh Wright, 64 mins), Ryan Poskitt, Rian Sykes, Carl Fothergill (repl. Lee Garside, 75 mins), Craig Stephens (repl. Jason Bentley, 75 mins), Joe Thornton

Subs not used: Paul Staniforth, Dean Twibey

Goals: Carl Fothergill (21), Lee Garside (79), Luke Smith (85 – pen)

Bookings: Joe Thornton (66), Carl Fothergill (75)