Pontefract Collieries 5:1 Appleby Frodingham
Baris Northern Counties East League First Division
Tuesday 18^th October 2011

Pontefract Collieries made it nine points from nine to move onto the shoulders of the league leaders by putting five goals past a spirited Appleby Frodingham side.

Despite being rooted to the foot of the table, the Lincolnshire side have been involved in some tight games, throwing away winning positions on several occasions in the early months of the season. In his pre-match programme notes, Brendon Ormsby warned his charges against taking anything for granted, and implored his players to deny their visitors any confidence-building opportunities. His words seemed to have gone unheeded in the opening exchanges, as Appleby pushed enjoyed the better of the opening minutes.

However, as the Ponte players woke up to the fact that they were involved in a competitive game, they started to exert some pressure of their own, with Ryan Poskitt providing the main thrust of their early attacks. The winger repeatedly pushed the visitors on the back foot, running at his full-back before curling the ball – with either foot – towards his strikers. When the visitors were only able to knock a Poskitt cross behind for the first corner of the game, the same player abandoned his right flank to swing the corner in from the left. When the ball floated beyond the packed goal-mouth, Tom Robinson popped up at the far post to volley low into the back of the net.

If the opening goal damaged the fragile confidence of the visitors despite their strong start, they must have been flattened a minute later, when Poskitt delivered a ball behind the full back and into the channel for Steve Lyon to chase. Appleby’s ‘keeper rushed out to meet the ball, but was beaten to it by Lyon who, demonstrating the pace more associated with Cheetahs than their Leonine cousins , won the race before neatly rounding the ‘keeper and sliding the ball into the unguarded net.

Will Ramsay, operating on the left flank, almost added a third within moments, but was denied by a flying fingertip save from Samir Own, at the expense of a corner. Rob Oldham’s delivery was good, but no Ponte player was able to get a decisive touch, and the visitors escaped.

With The Colls taking control, Ryan Poskitt delivered a fine free-kick from the right, but again the Ponte front line were unable to win the aerial challenge.

To their credit, the visitors fought back. First, they delivered an equally dangerous free-kick into the Ponte area, but the ball somehow managed to traverse the box without a converting final touch. Then, having broken up a promising Ponte move, they broke quickly, feeding the swift skipper Simon Welton on the right. Welton raced beyond Oldham, before whipping a fine ball across the face of Lee Kelsey’s goal and into the path of Paul Tait, who headed against the bar. Pontefract had been warned that they would not be having everything their own way.

However, any edginess in the Ponte ranks would not last long, and again, they owed a great deal to the dangerous Poskitt. When the winger curled in another threatening free-kick, Lee Bosanquet denied the onrushing Lyon by heading behind for a corner. Poskitt, who seemed able to land the dead-ball wherever he wanted, found the forehead of Lyon, who nodded in the third – and his second of the game – from the near post.

Poskitt then showed his class from open play, turning the full-back Ben Shipman inside and out before lifting a teasing cross inches over the heads of both Greig McGrory and the hat-trick-seeking Lyon.

With half-time beckoning, the early Appleby warnings came to fruition, when another break-away led to the ball being delivered into the box by the excellent Welton, where it was met by Oliver Bradbury who, finding the ball on his wrong side, executed a fine overhead kick. Despite Lee Kelsey getting a hand to the ball, the Ponte ‘keeper was unable to prevent the visitors reducing the deficit and ensuring that they would start the second half with a realistic hope of getting back into the game.

The second half started in the same spirit as the first, with both sides showing the intention to get at their opponent’s back line. However, Pontefract were starting to dominate the midfield area, with Scott McGrory and Liam Ormsby breaking up Appleby possession before spreading the ball to the wings, where Ramsay and Oldham were combining well on the left, mirrored by skipper Twibey and Poskitt on the right. The result was put beyond doubt when Liam Ormsby fed Poskitt on the right, for the flying winger to whip in a perfect cross that was calmly nodded into the corner of the net by Scott McGrory, who had timed his run into the danger area to perfection.

An unseemly squabble erupted when Ormsby was repeatedly felled on the half-way line, with the officials having to separate both sets of players. The “handbags at dawn” seemed to raise the spirits of the Ponte players, who took the game to their opponents straight from the re-start, and finally killed any lingering hopes of a fight-back when Scott McGrory picked up the ball just outside the penalty area, steadied himself and blasted home hard and low into the corner of the net.

Appleby Frodingham were not finished. Showing commendable spirit, they stuck out their chests and attacked with verve. Welton fed James Hare, who drove into the Ponte area before crashing his shot across the face of goal. Gary Lumley – who has yet to play in a Pontefract team that has done anything except win – tracked Chris McDonald as the player threatened to run in on Kelsey’s goal, and did well to concede no more than a corner. With Lumley and Robinson in commanding form, the hosts cleared with ease.

Perhaps sensing that his team needed fresh legs, Brendon Ormsby made a triple substitution as the game entered it’s final quarter, with Connor Rollinson, Paul Haigh and James Hicks replacing Will Ramsay and the two McGrory’s.

As the game became stretched, Liam Ormsby took over. Having earlier been content to break up the visitor’s possession before neatly laying the ball off to his team-mates, the youngster started to display the more expansive side of his game, splaying diagonal balls behind the full backs to feed his wide men. It was a display of the all-round engine room arts that rightly won Ormsby the Man of the Match award. When Ormsby fed Steve Lyon with a magnificent ball that just cleared the Appleby left back, Lyon’s subsequent cross missed Hicks by a whisker.

Lyon himself turned provider, executing an excellent long pass over his shoulder – that showed magnificent awareness and vision – to feed Poskitt, now operating on the left. Yet again, the cross evaded the strikers.

As the game entered injury time, Lyon was denied an opportunity to complete his hat-trick. Having been released by a 60 yard ball from Lumley, the striker was racing clear of his marker and bearing down on Own in the Appleby net, before the referee inexplicably failed to grasp any concept of the advantage law by bringing play back 70 yards for a free-kick for a late challenge on Lumley. Incredibly, Pontefract ended a game in which they had won by 5 goals to 1 feeling frustrated.

Pontefract now face another Lincolnshire side, with a trip to Barton Town in the FA Vase on Saturday, before returning to league duties. Although Ormsby senior would rather have points on the board than games in hand, his team will resume their league campaign (against Yorkshire Amateur at The White Rose Stadium the following Saturday) on a three-game winning run which sees them placed on the shoulder of the leaders, with the knowledge that if they keep winning games, they will hit the summit when the outstanding games have been completed.

There is a lot to be said for taking every game as it comes!
Pontefract: Lee Kelsey, Dean Twibey (captain), Rob Oldham, Tom Robinson, Gary Lumley, Scott McGrory (repl. Paul Haigh, 72), Ryan Poskitt, Liam Ormsby, Steve Lyon, Greig McGrory (repl. James Hicks, 70), Will Ramsay (repl. Connor Rollinson, 70)

Subs not used: Duncan Bray, Lee Stretton

Goals: Tom Robinson (13), Steve Lyon (14, 32), Scott McGrory (32, 52)

Cautions: Lee Kelsey