Stone Old Alleynians 1-0 Bartestree: The Alleynians kept their promotion hopes alive with a marginal victory over Bartestree thanks to a first-half Adam Tomkinson penalty. Report by RICHARD HEWITT
In a game bereft of any real quality, it was the winger’s spot-kick that proved the difference at Springbank Park and left the Old Boys just five points behind 2nd placed St. Martins with one game in hand.
Midway through the opening stanza, Luke Askey – brought into midfield as Alleynians manager Matt Smith shuffled his pack – found himself on the end of a lofted pass and through on goal before being unceremoniously brought down by the visiting goalkeeper. Bizarrely, the Bartestree stopper escaped without a card but was soon picking the ball out of his net when Tomkinson coolly slotted in the resulting penalty.
The visiting side had been fortunate not to concede an earlier penalty when Sam Hodgkinson was felled in the area, though the referee deemed the contact minimal on that occasion and waved the forward to his feet.
The second half brought with it a marginal improvement in quality, and it was the hosts that carved out the best opportunities to add to the scoreline. A Dick Hewitt header freed Hodginkson, who brilliantly beat his man only for Paul Griffiths to fire the resulting centre straight at the goalkeeper. A rasping 20 yard effort from Askey was then acrobatically tipped onto the crossbar by the Bartestree ‘keeper, before a lapse in defensive concentration allowed a visiting forward half a chance in the area, though Lewis Paglia was quick to smother the ball and protect his side’s one goal cushion.
The clock eventually ticked down on a forgettable but important victory in the race for promotion, and the Old Boys are looking to increase the pressure on their rivals by picking up further points in their game in hand on Tuesday night.
We weren’t at our best again today but we got the job done and that’s what is important at this time of the season,” said Smith afterwards. “We missed Sam Wilson today who has been outstanding lately but was unavailable through injury. We go again on Tuesday though at home to Shenstone, and nothing less than three points will do if we are to keep the pressure on St. Martins.”
[box type=”info” align=”aligncenter” ]SOA: Paglia, Taylor, Thorley, Whalley, Hewitt, Tomkinson (Matthews), Askey, C Heard (Thomas), Griffiths ©, Hodgkinson, D Heard (Dibden)[/box]
There are lots more match photographs on Richard’s website HERE
Stone Old Alleynians tackle Shenstone Pathfinders at Springbank Park in Yarnfield on Tuesday night, 7.45pm kick-off
