Dinnington Town 2-1 Retford FC
A new ground but some familiar faces on the pitch. A good friend of mine, Dec Martin, was playing for Dinnington Town tonight. And starting for Retford FC were Ex-Tigers Jon Kennedy and Aaron Pickersgill, two players who gave their all for the Tigers shirt last campaign when the going got really tough. I was hoping that Adam Scott would also be appearing however it turns out he was unable to make it.
Me, Burkey and Pat got on the 19b bus from Rotherham to Dinnington in search of a football fix. I have passed Phoenix Park, the home of Dinnington Town, many times while on my venture’s to and from Worksop on the bus and always have wanted to visit. Tonight was a perfect excuse!
It was a traditional cold Tuesday night and we were greeted by the ‘Dinnington Yoof’ upon taking our position in the stand behind the goal for shelter. A bunch of 11-13 years olds with a drum and singing any song they could think of.
Dinnington went close in the opening two minutes when Nathan Jessop broke down the right-hand side and headed towards goal. He fired a shot on target but Kennedy threw himself in front of the attempt and the ball went out for a corner. The corner fell to the feet of Hutchinson whose shot deflected off Aaron Pickersgill but Kennedy was on hand to pounce on the ball.
Retford opened the scoring due to an own goal. Matthew Bryce swung his corner into the box. Alex Tomlinson misjudged the flight of the ball and ended up glancing a header into the back of his own net.
Retford almost doubled the lead a quarter of an hour in. The ball was given to Gaz Davies, who turned, and curled an effort from the edge of the box which skimmed the roof of the net as it went over. Moments later, a freekick was crossed into the box from deep for Ollie Bicham who rose highest and headed just over the bar.
Dinnington had three good chances to equalise in the space of six minutes. Firstly, Scott McKenna tried his luck on the left side of the box but McKenna’s shot curled away from goal instead of into the top corner. Then Matt Bradley escaped the attention of the Navy Blue backline and slotted the ball past the keeper but the shot was tame and Pickersgill raced back to clear. Furthermore, danger man Nathan Jessop saw his header glance across the face of goal and wide.
Dinnington Town equalised just after the thirtieth minute mark through a great strike from Jacob France. France cut in from the left and hit a 30 yard strike which caught out Jon Kennedy and dipped right at the last second into the net.
The second half was largely dominated by Dinnington Town and also saw some incredible goalkeeping from Jon Kennedy. Five minutes after the restart, Town went close to taking the lead from a Salem freekick. Hussein Salem whipped it in deep into the box. No one connected with it and Kennedy had to get down and across to bat the ball way from goal.
Several minutes later Kennedy was back in action to keep out Matt Bradley. Salem switched the ball from wide left to the right edge of the F.C. box. Bradley superbly brought down the cross and volleyed towards goal but, again, Kennedy got off his line quickly to stop the effort. The ball then found it way to McKenna who beat his marker and shot towards the bottom corner which the Retford number one palmed away from danger.
Dinnington were in-search of the goal that would put them ahead in the tie. They almost did in spectacular fashion but were denied by the fingertips of Jon Kennedy.
Matt Bradley found space 35 yards away from goal and hit a ferocious shot that was destined for the top corner. However the Ex-Worksop Town Captain backtracked and pulled of a brilliant acrobatic save to deny Dinnington the lead.
Things got worse for ‘the Choughs’ as they were reduced to ten men with fifteen minutes to go. Bryce chased down an advancing Jacob France and went in hard on the Dinnington captain. The referee didn’t hesitate to pull out the red card for the two-footed lunge.
With the man advantage, Dinnington should have made it 2-1 from the freekick following Retford’s dismissal. Retford failed to clear the freekick and the ball popped out to Bradley who rifled his shot against the body of Jessop, who was on the goal-line, and over the bar.
Retford were soon down to nine men, five minutes from time. Nathan Fenn slid to try and keep the ball in and then all of a sudden, lashed out at a Dinnington player who went to collect the ball for the throw in. This resulted a brawl breaking out and in between the mist, referee Thomas sent Fenn for an early bath.
Dinnington netted the winner in the closing stages of the game against a now depleted Retford side. Nathan Jessop was sent through on goal by McKenna. Jessop out-paced Bircham, rounded Jon Kennedy, and smashed it into the net off the post.
The final whistle went and Dinnington Town claimed all three points.
Goals: France (31’), Jessop (90’); Tomlinson OG (9’)
MOTM: Jon Kennedy
DTFC: Dan Heald, Dec Martin, Jack Binney, Jack Hutchinson, Joe Harris, Alex Tomlinson, Jacob France, Scott McKenna, Nathan Jessop, Matt Bradley, Hussein Salem
Subs: Kasey Scott, Fabian Johnson, George Johnson, Grant Barker, William Snow
RFC: Jon Kennedy, Aaron Pickersgill, Jordan Pickering, Ollie Bircham, Ross Wicks, Josh Robson, Martin Woodhead, Matthew Bryce, Jack Johnson, Gaz Davies, Arron Hutchinson
Subs: Jamie Housley, Nathan Fenn, Robbie Collingburn, Jack Hindley, Chris Woodhead
No comments:
Post a Comment