Dunston Federation FC ( Home) Match Report

Opponent: Dunston Federation FC ( Home)

Date/Time: 01 Mar 15:00

Competition: ANL1

Result: 1 - 1

Team:
Newton, Stewart, (Reay), Wells, Pearson, L Ryan, Keegan,Scott, Walklate, Tait, (Mitchell), Cogdon, Hodgson. Subs noy used: B Ryan, P Milner, N Radigan.

Report:
At a windswept Nissan Sports complex both teams served up a half decent game in atrocious conditions. Nissan took advantage of a strong wind in the first half and immediately had Dunston under pressure. After 10 minutes a through ball from Hodgson sent Wells clear but his shot was brilliantly saved by Allport. Minutes later a shot from Hodgson cleared the bar by inches. Dunston struck back and were unlucky not to take the lead when Preen shot narrowly wide with only the Newton to beat. Kevin Devine playing against his former club saw a glancing header go wide of the same post 2 minutes later and was substituted shortly after suffering from a groin strain. Nissan looked to be getting back on top before the end of the half and Cogdon should have done better when in front of goal but fired straight at Allport. Preen was causing problems at the other end and was only denied by a supurb save by Newton. The second half was a reversal of the first half with Newton called upon to make saves from Preen on two occassions. At the other end Stewart missed a golden opportunity when he stabbed the ball towards goal only for Allport to save once again. Defensively both teams were performing brilliantly in very difficult conditions. Substitute Mitchell opened the scoring, within two minutes of coming on, in the 82 minute when he turned a volleyed home from 25 yards, this looked to have sealed all three points. However there was still a sting in the tail from Dunston and in the last minute, Preen, who could have been dismissed in an incident earlier in the half, fired the ball into the Nissan box and it took a wicked deflection off Hodgson and went into the net. 1 - 1 on the day was probably a fair result on a day when the weather was the winner.

Scorers: Mitchell

Verdict:

"Much improved defensive performance with Ryan outstanding. In atrocious conditions both defences did extremely well. We need to take this performance on to the end of the season. For the first time in ages players took responsibility for their own actions and looked to gel as a team."

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