Post
by DJ » 20 Jan 2019, 17:27
Halesowen Town 1 St Ives Town 1
Lee Hughes stroked home a penalty deep in stoppage time to rescue a point for dominant Halesowen.
There was no denying that this was the best Yeltz football for some time and only a combination of ill-fortune, determined defending and the absence of a final killer touch kept out Halesowen after creating half a dozen excellent chances before the interval in a performance described as “tremendous” by Rob Smith in his after-match interview with Chris Flavell of the Halesowen News.
In a bright start, Dan Sweeney’s 12th minute low drive was turned around the post by visiting goalkeeper Martin Conway and Sweeney’s header was cleared off the line from Joel Taylor’s resulting corner. Taylor then connected well but lashed just inches wide of the post after Matt Curley crossed from the right at the end of a good 20th minute move.
Sweeney went closer still when his 26th minute header bounced down off the underside of the crossbar with Conway grabbing the loose ball after Taylor crossed from the left.
As the home pressure continued to mount, a 36th minute wide-angle shot from Sweeney was beaten away by Conway and Billy Murphy’s header was cleared off the line by Ty Ward a minute later. Taylor set Sweeney free in a great 40th minute move but Conway made another excellent save with his legs and Andre Wright headed just over the bar a minute later as St Ives proved hard to break down.
But St Ives landed a 42nd minute sucker punch to steal the lead against the run of play with their first chance of the game when Jake NEWMAN’s speculative 35 yard lob bounced into the top corner of the net with goalkeeper Dan Platt off his line.
The one-way traffic continued in the second half with St Ives mounting a solid rearguard action.
Visiting centre half Jarvis Wilson hooked Curley’s 56th minute looping header off the line and Sweeney nodded straight at Conway two minutes later. After a further two corners, Curley fired wide after 67 minutes as Halesowen tried to be patient to find a way back into the game and an 83rd minute Yeltz corner resulted in a goalmouth scramble, only for St Ives to put bodies behind the ball once again to clear.
Just as it semed St Ives would complete their smash and grab raid, Halesowen finally found a deserved equaliser in the sixth minute of added time as Taylor burst into the box down the left and was brought down. Home substitute HUGHES stroked home the resulting penalty and St Ives’ Charlie De’ath received a red card for his second bookable offence right at the death of a game where Halesowen could be allowed the indulgence of concentrating on their vastly improved performance rather than the result.
Halesowen Town: Dan Platt; Matt Curley (Aaron Gilpin 80), Jack Kelly, Sam Griffiths, Kieran Morris, William Murphy, Jack Rea (c), Callum Coyle (Lee Hughes 72), Andre Wright, Dan Sweeney, Joel Taylor. Subs Not Used: Joe Fitzpatrick, Danny Bragoli, Dominic Hill.
St Ives Town: Martin Conway; Ben Jackson, Mark Coulson (Ben Toseland 75), Taona Sundire, Jarvis Wilson, Charlie De’ath, Ben Baker (Danny Kelly 59), Robert Parker (c), Jake Newman, Ty Ward, Oliver Snaith (Andrew Osei-Bonsu 65). Subs Not Used: Benjamin Seymour-Shove, George Bailey.
Referee: Ben Cooke Attendance: 363
Booked: Kelly (65), De’ath (68), Wilson (71), Sweeney (81), Newman (85), Parker (90)
Sent Off: De’ath (90)
‘Tulleys Print’ HTFC Man of the Match selected by Halas Hawks u-11s: Matt Curley