Reserves Report - 25 March 2017

THURLOW NUNN RESERVE LEAGUE

STANWAY ROVERS RES. 3

LONG MELFORD RES. 0

Att: 41

The home side deservedly clinched the league championship with this win against a Melford side who had a bad day at the office straight from the kick off.

This was probably partly due to several enforced changes, that once again saw players out of their normal positions, more likely however due to a lack of competitiveness in the key areas.

The opening twenty five minutes was dominated by the home side, and in the knowledge that a point was all they needed to clinch the league title they were constantly probing the Melford defence in which Ryan Dewey was one of only a handful of visiting players that showed any serious resistance.

The breakthrough came after 25 minutes when the ball was bundled home from a corner, and just minutes later a second was finished neatly from close range.

Melford had little to offer in return, mindful of the damage he caused in the first game at Stoneylands against his old club, top scorer Dan Manser was well shackled by two defenders throughout and spent most of the game trying to make space for others. With no other recognised forwards in the squad however, this was mainly all to no avail.

Of all the visiting players, it was Addy Roy who battled bravely throughout the 90 minutes, and along with Stuart Malseed in the centre of the park he never stopped trying to push Melford forward.

Stanway finally completed their victory with twenty minutes remaining, again from close range and against a by now struggling visiting ‘keeper in the form of Kieran Flatman who injured his back early on in the first half. Melford’s only efforts on target came from a Dewey strike from the halfway line and a Rashid Mahbubur shot late on.

MELFORD RES: Kieran Flatman, James Trott, Tom Walker, Ryan Dewey, Scott Barnes, Andre Gydane, Stuart Malseed, Addy Roy, Salim Kasim, Dan Manser, Rashid Mahbubur, Jason Joseph, Tom Gibson