Team | Yardley Men’s 1st Team |
Opponent | Olton & W Warwick 4 |
Date | February 29, 2020 |
Result | Loss |
Score | 1 – 2 |
Goal scorer: Noor Zaman
A typical top v bottom encounter, with storm Jorge revving up.
Although the sun shone at the start there was a very blustery wind. After weathering Olton’ s attack right from the whistle, Yardley countered with a speedy breakaway to mount their own attack. Alex slipped to ball into the D and from the resulting scramble. Noor put the ball into the net to give his team and early lead. However, right from the start Olton mounted their own attack, got the ball into the D where it was met with a simple touch in to level the scores after just a couple of minutes.
For the remainder of the first half Olton enjoyed the better possession, but just could not create anything very positive to trouble Neal in goal, while the Yardley defenders did their job brilliantly. Although Yardley matched their opponents for effort, they were restricted to a few attacking efforts.
As last week, honours even at the break, with Yardley giving a good account of themselves against the league leaders.
It was much the same for most of the second half, with Olton enjoying most possession but unable to do much with it. Yardley’s attacks, although with pace, were sporadic and lacking in support and generally petering out .
A period of snow and hail, although not enjoyed by the spectators, did not really affect either team. Olton managed to grab the winner with just a few minutes left after another scramble in the D.
Olton finally managed to keep their lofty ambitions well on track, but they were made to work very hard by a now almost doomed Yardley side who gave everything they had and almost snatched a share of the spoils.
Next week, Yardley travel to Harborne.