Dudley Town 1 Stone Old Alleynians 1, Saturday 19th September
Despite having a depleted team due to work and holiday commitments, Stone Old Alleynians approached this game in a confident mood after winning the previous game against Smethwick Rangers on the previous Tuesday.
But manager Matt Smith was disappointed to only come out of this game with a draw. He said: “We dominated play from the beginning of the game until the end against opponents who are quite some way above us in the table. I really feel that we are getting to grips with football at this level and we are steadily making our way up the table. Our strike force are really buzzing now but we just need show a bit more quality and composure in front of goal to make the most of the opportunities.”
The Old Boys started with the rejuvenated strike pairing of Matt Thomas and Carl Dibden up front and in no time they were carving their way through the Dudley defence. First Thomas had a golden opportunity to open the scoring and then skipper Paul Griffiths was put through by a clever Thomas back-heel in a one-on-one against the Dudley keeper Scarratt. Unfortunately for the Alleynians, Griffiths could not repeat his effort from Tuesday, when he scored the winner from an identical situation, and Scarratt smothered his shot as he tried to place it into the gaping net.
Alleynians were quite happy to allow Dudley possession in midfield but every time the Old Boys got the ball there was danger. Striker Matt Thomas weaved his way through the Dudley defence and as he was going round the goalkeeper his legs were taken leaving the referee no option to award the penalty to Old Alleynians. Crucially, the ref chose not to send the host’s keeper off, or even show a yellow card. Thomas dusted himself to take the penalty but the Dudley keeper threw himself to his left to stop Old Alleynians taking the lead.
With no changes to either side at half time, The Old Boys hard working midfield of Askey, Moloney and Griffiths continued to create chances for the Alleynians forwards. When Dudley did break forward, Matt Burslem in the Alleynians goal dealt very confidently with anything that got through to him. The Old Boys defence, which was bolstered by the return of the steady Ian Whalley continued to cope well with the tricky and speedy Dudley forwards.
After about 65 minutes some superb interplay between Askey, Thomas and Dibden on the edge of the Dudley box put the latter through on goal. Dibden showed coolness and poise as he placed his shot confidently into the net to put the Old Boys one up.
Dudley now started to come into the game more, penning the visitors back in their own half as they looked for an equaliser. The Old Boys defence seemed to be coping well with the wave of attacks but after a failure to clear the ball adequately, a shot from the edge of the area by the Fairhurst, the Dudley No. 10, crept past Matt Burslem into the Old Alleynians net and bring the scores level.
Both teams then pressed for the winner, but Alleynians still looked more likely to score. Paul Griffiths sent over a corner from the left which looked like it went straight in before it was controversially hooked clear by a home defender and just before the end, both Dibden and substitute Sam Chilvers, who came on for the injured Thomas, had great opportunities to snatch the winner for the Old Boys. The chances were missed and the game finished in a draw.
[box type=”info” align=”aligncenter” ]Team: Burslem, Heath, Davies, Wilson, Whalley, Griffiths, Askey, Heard, Moloney, Thomas, Dibden. Subs: Chilvers (Thomas), Bigham, Taylor[/box]
