Pontefract Collieries 3:3 Shirebrook Town
Saturday 6th November, 2010

Ponte dropped two home points against mid-table Shirebrook, although it could have been far worse for the home team, as a stirring second-half fight-back saw them retrieve a point from a game in which they had trailed by three goals at the interval.

For the second week in succession, it was left to Luke Smith – enhancing his reputation as “The Calmest Man on the Pitch” – to despatch the late penalty that earned his side a point, after Craig Stephens had bagged a brace to drag his team back into contention.

At half-time at Beechnut Lane on Saturday, Pontefract’s promotion credentials were in tatters. By full time, they had restored their credibility – even if they had lost ground to rivals Barton Town and Staveley – and underlined the “never say die” attitude that has characterised their season. To manager Simon Houghton, it was a simple case of two points dropped in a tightening promotion race.

On paper, this match had the appearance of a routine home win. Perhaps the players felt that this was the case, as they started without any of the fire and intensity that has driven them into the promotion zone this season. Whether the issue was complacency or over-confidence, the Colls were far short of their own high standards in the first half. Although, in fairness, they did not start badly, creating the first opportunity as early as the opening minute of the match, when a moment of sublime skill from Lee Garside released Stephens, who fed Joe Thornton with a ball inside the full-back, for the winger to slide a tempting ball across the face of goal. The ball appeared goal-bound following a deflection from Shirebrook’s Rowbottom, before being hooked off the line. Josh Wright picked up the clearance and skipped clear of his marker before sending a 25-yard chip wide of the upright.

Minutes later, Ponte ‘’keeper Andrew Joburns was tested – by his own player. Matt Wilkinson – playing alongside Johnny Forsyth in an unfamiliar centre-half partnership as Houghton rewarded the pair for fine midweek performances by a starting berth – nodded a dangerous cross towards his own goal, and was mightily relieved to see his keeper tip the ball over for a corner. Joburns – cheered on by his own youthful fan club in the stands – displayed typically safe hands to deal with the corner, and the immediate threat had passed.

However, the home team had been warned that proceedings would not go to their expectations, a feeling that was underlined minutes later when Shirebrook’s Sean Hamstead fired high and wide, having been set up by his skipper Pete Stubley with an incisive run beyond Dean Twibey and an intelligent cut back from the goal-line. A further warning shot was sent out when Sean Dickinson chased a measured through-ball, only to be beaten to it by an alert Joburns.

After the away side gathered momentum, Pontefract finally managed a spell of sustained possession, when a phase of possession involving controlled passing from over half the team culminated in Garside playing a long diagonal ball onto the head of Ryan Poskitt, who was unable to direct his header back across the face of goal.

The display of quality and control from Pontefract was a temporary blip in a poor first half display. Within a minute, they were behind, when the dangerous Michael Lyall strode beyond the Ponte defence and stroked home a fine left foot shot.

The goal did not elicit any visible reaction from the home team. Aside from a long-range Wright shot that kicked up off the bobbly pitch like a Flintoff bouncer striking a crack in a dry wicket, Simon Smith was hardly tested in the Shirebrook goal. Instead, it was the away team who were emboldened by the goal, with Lyall making another good run before striking the ball into Joburns’ arms. With the two centre-halves, both excellent players in their own right, playing without the understanding which comes from regular match-time in partnership, indecision seemed to reign in the Pontefract back line, and the strain on the central midfielders was further heightened as the wide men pushed forward in search of scraps in the opposition’s half of the pitch. Such confusion led to a needlessly-conceded corner, which the Colls were unable to clear. The ball was slipped back into the box, eventually arriving at the feet of Hamstead, who turned his marker before striking home his team’s second goal of the afternoon.

Pontefract were second best by some distance, the forwards feeding on scraps as the team repeatedly conceded possession with poorly directed passes. They could ill afford to be so wasteful, as the lack of intense pressure on the ball meant that Shirebrook dominated possession as the half dragged on. As the half-time whistle neared, disaster struck, when Dean Twibey uncharacteristically passed the ball straight to an opponent, who fed Lyall for his second of the afternoon.

Things could have been even worse for Ponte on the stroke of half-time, as Lyall beat Joburns to a long ball and rolled the ball goal-wards. However, it was “zero to hero” for Twibey, who denied the Shirebrook striker his hat-trick by clearing off the line.

Whatever Houghton had to say to his troops during the interval worked a treat. The side were transformed as they took the field for the second half. Suddenly, Wilkinson and Forsyth were decisive and steady, Wright started to dominate possession of the football in the midfield, and the energy levels were visibly lifted. The tone of the half was set by Craig Stephens, who picked up the ball on the half-way line before driving purposefully forward towards the goal. Although a perfectly-timed slide tackle denied Stephens the opportunity to cap his run with a shot, the tone was set by a positive intent.

Thornton took up the baton, twisting and turning like a kite in a gale, before sending a right-foot chip clear of both keeper and crossbar. With the home side now dominating possession, chances started to arise. A fluid move, instigated by a rejuvenated Twibey, fed Rian Sykes on the edge of the box. Sykes slid a precision pass into the feet of Poskitt inside the box, but Poskitt’s left foot shot missed the target.

If the team felt that this miss confirmed that this was not to be their day, they did not allow this feeling to affect their play. Skipper Luke Smith would not let them – lifting his side’s energy with a blend of vocal encouragement and fine example, as he drove his team forward from the left. They were rewarded on the hour mark, when Lee Garside slid a delightful ball inside the left-back to Thornton – now operating on the right flank. Thornton slipped the ball across the face of goal, into the path of Stephens, who slotted home with a true striker’s instinct.

As the renewed energy level raised another notch – encouraged by some fine vocal support from the stands – Stephens fed Garside with a controlled nod into his strike partner’s path. However, Smith was alert to it and – Joburns’-like – rushed to claim the ball.

As the momentum favoured the trailing side, Shirebrook spurned a golden chance to quell the uprising from a rare breakaway, when Lyall met a cross with a terrific volley. Joburns – already a hero to the growing band of Ponte supporters – cemented his talismanic status still further with a terrific reaction save to deny the Shirebrook man his hat-trick and, crucially, to keep Ponte in the game.

With 23 minutes remaining, Houghton threw caution to the wind and replaced Twibey with Fothergill, prepared to take the risk of conceding further goals by reducing his defensive number to three, in favour of throwing more goalscoring players into the fray. The move was inspired, Fothergill showing why he is so highly valued by taking the game by the scruff of the neck with a high-impact, high energy cameo. Within three minutes of his arrival on the scene, Fothergill turned away from his marker, setting up the move that culminated in Stephens heading home his second of the afternoon and reducing the deficit to a single goal. Pontefract sensed an equaliser. When Davey handled on the edge of the box, Garside’s blasted free-kick was blocked by the wall. Seconds later, Thornton – his back to goal – rolled the ball invitingly into the path of Rian Sykes who, arriving like a steam train, thundered his shot inches wide of the upright.

As Pontefract strove for parity, the tension reached fever pitch – which seems to becoming the default in this thrilling season. Houghton’s second change proved as crucial as his first, with Jason Bentley tormenting the Shirebrook defence with his pace and mazy runs as soon as he was introduced. With Bentley’s pace, Fothergill’s energy, and Josh Wright’s probing from the midfield, Pontefract were dominant.

In the end, it was Bentley who set up the equaliser, picking the ball up inside his own half before setting out on a Giggs-like run, before being flattened as he shaped to shoot. For the second week in a row, it was left to skipper Smith to strike home the equaliser from the spot, to the delight of his team-mates and the roar of the crowd.

The final minutes of the match were typical of the late stages of Ponte games, 2010-11 vintage, with the team pressing for a winner. With “The Andrew Joburns Fan Club” enhancing the atmosphere with their vocal support of the team, Colls pushed for an unlikely winner. It almost came in the final minute of the match, when another Bentley run was brought to an abrupt halt inches outside the penalty area. This time, Garside stepped aside to allow Thornton an attempt at goal, although the result was the same as the Shirebrook wall held firm.

As the teams left the pitch with applause ringing in their ears from a thrilled crowd, one man remained unimpressed by it all: Simon Houghton, realising that the result represented a backward step in the title race, regardless of the second-half heroics of his team. And the reality is that, this morning, his team have lost ground to their two main rivals. He will be demanding that his team play with the same intensity they show when a game needs saving from the first whistle, and that future heroics are rendered redundant.

Pontefract Collieries: Andrew Joburns, Dean Twibey (repl. Carl Fothergill, 67 mins), Luke Smith (capt), Matt Wilkinson, Johnny Forsyth, Josh Wright, Ryan Poskitt (repl. Jason Bentley, 75 mins), Rian Sykes, Lee Garside, Craig Stephens, Joe Thornton

Subs not used: Paul Staniforth, Nicky Handley, Luke Forgione

Goals: Craig Stephens (60, 70), Luke Smith (88 – pen)

Bookings: none