Harrogate Railway Athletic U19s 0:5 Pontefract Collieries U19s
Northern U19s Alliance
Thursday 24th November, 2011

Pontefract Collieries U19s Academy team pulled off a magnificent win last night, visiting the reigning Champions of the Northern U19s Alliance, Harrogate Railway, and coming away with a 5:0 win.

The win was all the more incredible given the fact that Harrogate have been unbeaten in the U19s league for two-and-a-half seasons, and had been strong favourites to retain their title, having held on to the majority of their team from last season. Pontefract’s achievement is underlined by the fact that the entire Colls’ squad will remain eligible for the U19s league next season. The improvement in John Redford’s young team is further underlined by the fact that they lost the corresponding fixture by the same 5:0 scoreline twelve months earlier, having also been beaten 3:0 at The White Rose Stadium by a Harrogate team on their march to the title.

Given the hosts’ record and strength, John Redford and his Assistant John Osborne would have considered a point a good result, in advance of the fixture. The players had other ideas, taking then fight to their hosts from the first minute.

Although Harrogate enjoyed the best of the early possession, their chances were limited by a solid defensive performance from The Colls, and only had a wayward volley from a corner to show for their early pressure. With Harrogate struggling to convert possession into meaningful attacks, Pontefract applied the pressure and pushed their hosts back. This pressure on the ball forced a turnover in possession half-way inside Harrogate territory, when Ryan McDermott pounced on a poor first touch to rob the ball before sliding an inch-perfect through ball into the path of Brad Wild, who calmly slotted the ball under the ‘keeper to shock the hosts.

With Harrogate’s back line looking increasingly unsteady under intense Ponte pressure, they repeatedly failed to clear their lines. Every time a player found the ball at his feet, a Ponte player was breathing down his neck. The Colls were all over their hosts. This high intensity approach led directly to the second goal: when the Harrogate centre-half tried to relieve pressure by laying the ball back to his ‘keeper, Aaron Carrigan raced to close down the ‘keeper’s space and, when the attempted clearance struck him, watched the ball roll into the empty net.

Harrogate finally created a meaningful chance after half an hour when their right winger broke clear, but the ‘keeper managed to get his outstretched fingertips to the ball to slow it’s path towards goal, allowing Karl Abbott to do the rest, the classy centre-half racing back to hook the ball clear off the line.

Harrogate had an apparently valid penalty claim waved away as the interval approached, with the excellent Callum Green lucky not to have been penalised for a clumsy challenge in the box.

With Pontefract two goals clear at the interval having survived the two let-offs and signs that Harrogate were finding their way back into contention, the game seemed set for a competitive second half. As it turned out, the second half was a non-contest, with Ponte dominant from the first whistle to the last.

Without the ball, Pontefract harried and hassled their opponents into mistake after mistake, restricting the hosts to a long-range effort from their centre-half in the third quarter of the game. The back line of Keiron Wright (replaced by Jack Hill), Grant Chapman, Karl Abbott and Ryan Waugh were solid and commanding. With the ball, Ponte were simply outstanding, combining quick feet and quicker thinking to keep the ball moving, finding space with ease and using the full width of the pitch. The defenders found their midfield players with consummate ease and, with Callum Green and Leon Guest in fine form in the middle of the park, McDermott and Carrigan threatening from the flanks and Lewis Osborne enjoying fine form up front, the team pressed forward time and time again.

They were rewarded when Osborne was released down the right by a fine Guest pass, and raced into the box. Osborne denied the acute angle to shoot and, although his effort was slowed down by the fingertips of the Railway ‘keeper, his strike partner was on hand to convert from close range.

Three became four three minutes later, when Leon Guest delivered a magnificent free-kick in from the left, to be headed home by Osborne, his effort looping over the ‘keeper and into the net.

Harrogate were denied a consolation from a good save by Ponte’s own stopper after the centre-halves had allowed a long clearance to bounce over them. Railway also thought they had scored when their winger converted a deflected free-kick, but the assistant referee’s flag denied them.

Instead, Ponte added a final flourish with the fifth goal. Aaron Carrigan, who had been a constant menace to the Harrogate defenders, raced down the right flank in pursuit of a ball from Osborner. The winger’s cross cleared the ‘keeper and struck the foot of the far post, rebounding into the net.

This was a game of two halves, with Ponte’s young team winning them both! The first, they owed to the intensity of their pressing, allowing Harrogate no time to play any football. The second was down to a complete performance: furious closing down, hard work, and terrific movement of the ball, finished off with some incisive moves and good finishing.