Stone Dominoes 2 Penkridge Town 3 – Monday 3rd August: Stone Dominoes entertained Staffordshire County Senior League newcomers Penkridge Town at Yarnfield in their penultimate pre-season fixture.
Penkridge started the game the brighter, looking to control possession and stop Dominoes from settling on the ball. With no notable clear-cut chances in the early stages, the visitors took the lead midway through the first half. A clever ball to split the home defence released the Penkridge forward, and although the first attempt was kept out well by Dan Marsh in the Dominoes’ goal, the forward was quick to react to drill the ball underneath the goalkeeper to make it 1-0.
The hosts were struggling to reach the tempo from their previous game and were only able to create half chances through Chris Nellis’s header and Paul Snape’s long range effort. After two further warnings, it was 2-0 five minutes before half time in similar fashion, as the same Penkridge forward again got in behind the Stone defence to beat Marsh to the ball and fire into the far corner to double the lead.
If the home side were disappointed with their first half display, they would have been much more satisfied with the second period. It was them controlling possession now and moving the ball much more quickly and purposefully in the final third. They found themselves back in the game 10 minutes into the half when a throw in on the right side found Foyle inside the opposition box, only for the midfielder to be bundled to the ground to win a penalty. Ash Cooper made no mistake with the spot-kick to make it 2-1.
After some intense pressure, the home side equalised with 15 minutes to go when Cooper got free on the left to pick out Lindop in the middle, and although his first effort was saved, he was quickest to react to knock the ball into the empty net.
Although there was less free-flowing football in the latter stages of the game, it was Dominoes pressing for the winner. With players tiring and the game becoming stretched, it was their desire to win the game that would ultimately cost them. Two minutes from the end, as they pushed forward for the winner, Penkridge stole possession and a swift counter attack released the scorer of the first two goals. Marsh was quickly out of his goal to brilliantly deny the striker, but saw the rebound fall to an oncoming opponent who, despite the efforts of a recovering Marcus Thorp, saw his strike eventually end up in the Stone net to clinch a 3-2 victory.
[box type=”info” align=”aligncenter” ]With the opening league fixture less than two weeks away, Dominoes play their final pre-season fixture on Saturday with a ‘Yarnfield derby’ against a Stone Old Alleynians XI (2pm kick off)[/box]
