Appleby Frodingham 0 : 5 Pontefract Collieries
Northern Counties East League – Div One
Saturday December 3rd, 2011

Report by Rod Naylor

The pressure at the top of the Northern Counties East League Division One table remains despite this anticipated win for Collieries at bottom placed Appleby-Frodingham in Scunthorpe on Saturday.  With promotion rivals Glasshoughton, Albion and Worksop also winning in other high scoring encounters, only Handsworth slipped up to leave three clubs, including Brendon Ormsby’s Pontefract side,  tied on 42 points at the top.

Gareth Roberts celebrates his opening goal, with James McDaid and Steve Lyon in attendance

Pontefract started brightly and were soon dominating the play and looking the most likely to break through.  After one Pontefract free-kick flew over the bar, the next produced the opening goal with just 5 minutes on the clock.  Rob Oldham, gaining a place back in the side at left-back, came across the field to float in a left-footed curling free-kick to the far post, to centre-back Gareth Roberts, who met it with his head to plant the ball in the net giving ‘keeper Steve Barker no chance.

It looked as though 2-0 was to follow almost immediately when Ryan Poskitt put Steve Lyon through, but the goal was correctly disallowed for offside.  Lyon and his striking partner, Greig McGrory, were looking lively up front, and causing problems for the Steelmen’s defence.

The first threat from the hosts was from a Luke Grimbleby run at the Colls defence, and after a bit of a mix up at the back, the reliable Roberts was able to clear the danger at the expense of a corner.  And from a second flag-kick cross from David Bocock, it was again Grimbleby who went closer this time, his header being cleared off the line.

In-form striker Steve Lyon slams home the second goal for The Colls

Having survived those efforts, it was Colls who then doubled their lead on 26 minutes.  An attack down the left side resulted in Scott McGrory laying off the ball for a blistering shot from Steve Lyon, well placed wide of the ‘keeper.

A superb ball from James McDaid on the left wing then saw Greig McGrory nearly get on the end of it, but he was just foiled by ‘keeper Barker.

App-Frod were desperate to make an impression and get back into the game, but a speculative shot from David Bocock didn’t trouble Colls’ goalkeeper Lee Kelsey, who had had little to do to this point.  Good work by Rob Oldham then shut out a threat down the wing from captain Simon Welton.

There was some concern for Ormsby and his team when Ryan Poskitt went down with a head injury, but he was able to resume and put in a terrific shot from Rob Oldham’s corner.  The Steelmen’s ‘keeper Steve Barker made a fantastic double save, and a defender cleared off the line, as Colls took shooting practice, but the score remained at 2-0.

In what had been a very clean game, it was somewhat out of context for Colls’ centre-back Tom Robinson to dive in from behind and earn himself a yellow card.  Even more unnecessary was the protest from Scott McKay who sprinted a long way to get similar punishment by referee Adam Smith.

The second half took mostly the same course as the first, with Pontefract continuing to dominate possession and territory, with only the occasional threat from App-Frod.  A promising run from Grimbleby from midfield came to nothing as he over-ran the ball as he met the Ponte back line.

Greig McGrory was getting through a lot of work both up front and chasing back, as was Steve Lyon, and the Steelmen were finding it hard to get the ball away even when they had possession.  On one of their rare forays up field, they were foiled by two clearing headers from Tom Robinson.  Liam Ormsby was now dominating the middle of the park, and was finding the wings for Poskitt and Will Ramsay (on as a straight swap on the left for McDaid), with consummate ease.

Ryan Poskitt makes the game safe for Ponte

It was no surprise when Ponte made the game safe on 64 minutes when Ryan Poskitt exchanged a pass on the edge of the area after a good run, and rocketed a shot into the far corner.  And three minutes later it was 4-0.  This time a great run from the middle by Scott McGrory saw him exchange passes with Poskitt to tee up Will Ramsay, who curled the ball in from 25 yards.

It was only a question now of how many Colls would get as Ormsby, in particular, was able to continue to stretch the home side’s defence with a bit of a passing exhibition.  The only blot on the landscape was two foul throws by Ponte, the kind of mistake which always baffles everyone watching.

Steve Lyon completes his brace with a classy finish

The final 10 minutes were something of an onslaught.  Substitute Warren Redford was close to getting his head to a far post cross before the inevitable fifth goal came after 82 minutes when Steve Lyon was put away and had no trouble beating the ‘keeper when one-on-one.

Ramsay put in a shot from the left.  Redford put Lyon in again and it could have been six as his stinging shot went just wide of the post.  And Ramsay again put in a dipping shot just over the bar after good linking work with Redford and Oldham.

A David Bocock free-kick for the hosts was put way over the bar, but substitute Darren Fogg looked to have spoilt the clean sheet with a far post header which flew across goal with Kelsey stranded.  It fell agonisingly wide.

Collieries had the last of the action as Redford had another shot blocked, and Steve Lyon’s option to go for his hat-trick rather than pass to other well-placed team-mates, saw his shot sail well wide and over.   It mattered little in the end, as Pontefract repeated their 5-0 away success of last season on this ground, and retained their joint top standing in the table and their promotion push.

Collieries: Lee Kelsey, Connor Rollinson, Rob Oldham, Tom Robinson, Gareth Roberts, Scott McGrory (repl. Leon Guest 76′), Ryan Poskitt, Liam Ormsby, Steve Lyon, Greig McGrory (repl. Warren Redford 76′), James McDaid (repl. Will Ramsay 56′).

Subs Not Used: James Hicks, Stephen Edwards.

Goals:         Gareth Roberts (5′), Steve Lyon 2 (26′ 82′), Ryan Poskitt (64′), Will Ramsay (67′)

Cautions:        Tom Robinson