Hucknall Harriers 1 Keyworth
United 5
Harriers Grounded by Five Star Keyworth
There
was definitely something in the air on Sunday! From the
moment I woke it was destined to be one of those days! Sure
enough, a bizarre morning full of mishaps (referred to as
Malcisms by my friends!) and an equally strange match
ensued, but, as so often in my life, all turned out right
in the end, with Keyworth emerging victorious from a tricky
encounter with a tenacious Hucknall outfit.
Things started badly! Half an hour prior to meeting at
Platt Lane, deciding to re-familarise myself with the
directions to Hucknall’s ground, something wasn’t right. On
checking, I found it - a left turn instead of a right one
which would have had most of us still searching for the
well hidden ground days later had it not been spotted! A
frantic ring round the team to advise of the error was
completed five minutes before my Platt Lane deadline. Great
I thought - done it! Only to suddenly realise I’d agreed to
pick Harry up en route. Burning rubber through the streets
of Keyworth, I arrived at Harry’s with a minute to spare
only to be told “he’s down at Platt Lane”!! My, by now
belated, arrival at Platt Lane was greeted by Harry’s
smiling face - how I laughed!!
So, troops gathered, and running on British Rail time, we
made our delayed departure. All being well, failing a
breakdown, we’d be there in good time. ... guess what?!
Just by QMC, we spotted Wayne’s truck in definite need of a
pick up with an outside rear tyre flatter than a pint of
Tetleys left over from the night before. A swift transfer
of our top scorer between cars and we were off again
leaving Wayne to fathom out just exactly where the spare
wheel on his truck was located!
Finally, we arrived at the ground - later than planned but
still in time for kick off. We needn’t have worried!
Surprise, surprise! The league appointed ref failed to
appear, leaving us waiting for a willing volunteer to be
whisked away from Tesco to officiate.
When the waiting was over, Keyworth started superbly.
Moving the ball well, using the width to good effect, the
Greens were rampant with our “wide boys”, Cian Lenihan and
Ben Healey causing havoc. In no time, we took a deserved
lead. After another fine foray down the right, Ben forced a
corner.Taking the kick himself, he delivered an inch
perfect ball to the far post where it was nonchalantly
side-footed home by Josh Couthard, timing his run to
perfection. A second almost followed instantly as Danny
Hardy fired in a shot which cannoned to safety off the
inside of the post. Then, just as it looked as though
Keyworth would run away with it, they took their foot off
the gas and lost the impetus. The game became confined to
the central area and frankly was turgid stuff, but the
longer Keyworth remained stifled, the more Hucknall started
to fancy their chances - particularly, when they reached
half time only a goal in arrears.
The second half started as the first had ended - lacklustre
and scrappy - but thankfully was brought to life by a
second Keyworth goal out of nothing. A Hucknall clearance
was met on halfway by Harry Stolworthy who headed forward
for Josh to go one on one with the keeper. A neat flick off
the outside of his right foot later and Josh’s classy
finish had put us two up. Within a minute though, the
usually reliable Green defence went walkabout, allowing a
Hucknall forward to hit an excellent first time shot beyond
the diving Sam’s outstretched hand into the bottom corner.
From “job done” to “game on”. Sensing an unlikely point or
three, Hucknall pushed hard and Keyworth were looking
strangely vulnerable. Then, just as the nerves began to
jangle on the touchline, Keyworth made it safe. Ben’s
excellent corner from the right was met powerfully at the
near post by Danny, whose bullet header simply flew into
the net. Suddenly, two goal lead restored, I began to feel
a whole lot better! A feeling that was exacerbated when
Danny, surrounded by five Harriers, went on a successful
mission to dribble past a whole team, hit the by-line and
fired in a low cross / shot that deflected in off an
unwitting defender. 4-1 up and the Keyworth fans were once
again making some noise. Meanwhile Hucknall were free
falling with space opening up everywhere as Keyworth
pressed forward at will. With five minutes remaining our
joy was unconfined as Cian, the only member of the squad
yet to score this season, finally broke his duck. A
crossfield ball was hit into the great wide open space on
the left.
Given the freedom of the King’s highway, our “King of the
Left” ran unchallenged into the box, settled himself and
fired a splendid left footed drive firmly beyond the keeper
for a goal his consistently strong performances have
thoroughly deserved - the roar of delight all around was
deafening! In the time that remained, Hucknall’s keeper
made the save of the season to date, diving full length to
push aside Ben’s fierce goal-bound effort, before the game
ended with Keyworth running out worthy winners in the end.
This was a tough test for the Greens! Apart from the first
ten minutes we were never at our best and had to grind out
the result against a hard-working Hucknall who never made
life comfortable for us. At times we had to dig deep but we
showed that we won’t back down on such occasions and in
truth we just did enough! Whilst not a great performance,
we can still take lots of positives though - not least the
victory! Ben and Cian were magnificent, Danny was,..well
Danny really, weaving his magic; Sam looked confident and
assured in goal, Peter Hennessy again showed his class
while Josh showed a stylish and welcome return to form.
Our 100% record in November, scoring 32 goals while
conceding only four in the process, suggests we’re now
really learning to fly at this level! Keep your eyes on the
letterbox Mr Barwick, my application’s in the post!
