Grimsby Borough 1:1 Pontefract Collieries
Northern Counties Eastern League First Division
Tuesday 22nd March 2011

Pontefract and Grimsby fought out a draw on Tuesday night, with both teams having to settle for a point despite having late chances to win the game.

The game, which marked Pontefract’s first visit to their host’s new stadium and the first full game in charge for Brendon Ormsby, started with Pontefract on the offensive, but repeatedly shooting themselves in the foot with sloppy play. The tone of the opening exchanges was set in the first few minutes when pressure was relieved on the hosts by a wayward pass from the normally-impeccable Luke Smith, who rectified his mistake with a fine recovering challenge.

With Ryan Poskitt starting on the left flank, Stefan Furness was given a start in his favoured right-wing position, and almost opened the scoring after six minutes when he cut inside and unleashed a fine, curling left-footed shot, which was well saved by Borough ‘keeper Bradley Beattie. As Ponte pushed their hosts backwards, Andy Broadbent gave the ball away in the centre circle. It was picked up by the speedy Andrew Taylor, who drove beyond the Colls defence, only to be foiled by a fine save from Sam Dobbs. Shortly afterwards, Taylor latched on to a ball behind Dean Twibey, putting a fine cross into the path of Danny Freeman, whose goalbound effort was also saved by the Ponte stopper.

Gareth Hunter – taking his lead from Smith and Broadbent – squandered possession with a wayward pass which allowed Taylor to pull clear of skipper Nicky Handley, before Dobbs was called upon to make the third of a trio of fine saves in the opening quarter.

Despite the danger posed by Furness and Poskitt on the flanks, Pontefract were killing themselves with wayward passing, and only retaining parity due to the heroics of their ‘keeper. The mistakes were transmitting an edginess across the team. However, their nerves were almost settled on the half-hour mark, when Duncan Bray came close to opening the scoring, holding the ball up strongly from a ball by Smith, before turning his marker and sending a shot inches wide of the upright. The effort seemed to settle Ponte down, and they pushed forward again. Ryan Poskitt drove forward with gusto, beating two men before pushing the ball forward to Bray out wide, who beat the full-back before pulling back for Furness, whose low shot skidded across the face of goal and was deflected behind.

From the resulting corner, Ryan Poskitt’s excellent delivery reached Handley at the far post, but his effort was blocked. Grimsby broke, with Taylor again the danger man, the winger beating Handley to the ball before calling on Dobbs to make another save, this time diving low to his left to smother the shot.

Dobbs fed Bray with a kick from his hands that sailed deep into Grimsby territory. The striker controlled well, laying the ball off for Poskitt, who shot high and wide.

With the first half entering its final five minutes, Grimsby got their reward for enjoying the better openings of the half. A ball over Handley and his partner Jonny Forsyth was latched onto by Luke Maskall, who drove goalwards before sliding the ball past Dobbs and into the corner of the net.

Although Bray could have equalised when fed by Smith, it would have been harsh on the hosts to go in level, although the bulk of their chances had come from visitors’ errors.

Brendon Ormsby used the interval to switch his wingers and, more importantly, encourage his team to cut out the mistakes that were ruining an otherwise promising performance.

The re-organisation worked a treat. After the interval, the game changed, with Poskitt flying down the right flank, aided and abetted by Dean Twibey. Repeatedly, the two players drove their team forward. Equally importantly, their team cut out their wastefulness with the ball, although they were lucky that a single error from Broadbent did not result in a second Borough goal, when Lee Stephenson lifted the ball over Dobbs and wide of the target.

Pontefract seemed spurred on by the let-off, and enjoyed far more of the possession. Poskitt drove forward, feeding Paul Haigh, who laid the ball into the path of Furness, who shot wide from fully 30 yards.

The game became more end to end, with Grimsby counterattacking from a Colls corner, Dobbs being called upon to make yet another fine save, this time from Freeman.

However, Pontefract’s second half performance was rewarded in the 65^th minute. Twibey fed Handley from a throw-in, the skipper pumped the ball into the box towards Bray, who chested it down into the path of Paul Haigh, loitering with intent on the edge of the box. Haigh hit it first time, his low shot beating Beattie low to the ‘keeper’s right and going in off the post.

With parity restored, Pontefract grew in confidence and belief, driven forward by Poskitt. The winger – who shaded the first half hero Dobbs for the Man of the Match award – fed Twibey on the overlap. The fullback crossed to Bray, whose shot was blocked.

Poskitt set off on another direct run, again feeding Twibey, who again fed Bray: this time, the ‘keeper pushing Bray’s shot out for a corner, from which Forsyth headed over the bar. It was all Pontefract now, constantly pushing their hosts back with the runs of Poskitt.

However, as the game entered its final straight, Maskall could have won it for Borough, when he firstly volleyed over from inside the Ponte box, and then sent the ball wide of the upright when through on goal.

The tale of Pontefract’s match can be derived from the identity of their two outstanding performers: Dobbs, whose heroics kept his team in the game during an error-strewn first half; and Poskitt, whose powerful runs provided his team’s main impetus during a vastly improved second-half performance.   

Pontefract Collieries:

Sam Dobbs, Dean Twibey, Luke Smith, Nicky Handley (capt), Johnny Forsyth, Paul Haigh. Ryan Poskitt, Andy Broadbent, Duncan Bray, Gareth Hunter, Stefan Furness (repl. Leon Guest, 85)

Subs not used: Callum Green, Warren Redford, Jack Hill, Lee Kelsey

Goal: Paul Haigh (65)

Bookings: none