Abbey Lakes Away

The home side failed to have a full quota of a side at the kick off time, so Amberswood had the majority of the possession for the first fifteen minutes, but Abbey Lakes were solid at the back. But Amberswood were knocking on the door for a goal without really troubling the Abbey Lakes goalkeeper, but as Abbey Lakes players were turning up one by one they were getting closer and closer to a full quota of players and when they reached ten players they made their mark by scoring the first goal of the gameas the left sided player escaped down the wing and crossed the ball early, and the central striker confused Amberswood centre backs Darren Ainscough and John Warburton and got between them and placed the ball past Amberswood goalkeeper Lee Fernyough.

After fifteen minutes this turned into a proper game with both teams having eleven men, but it was still Amberswood having the majority of posession without hurting the Abbey Lakes defence and failing to really test the Abbey Lakes goalkeeper.

At half time, Amberswood made a couple of changes, moving Dean Tomlinson up front for his aerial ability and dropping striker Paul Stringer the ball player into central midfield, which payed dividends in the first ten minutesas Rick Surples had the ball on the left hand side and crossed the ball into the box and Dean Tomlinson came in on the back post to convert the ball home from close range for the equaliser.

Amberswood soon made another change, replacing goalscorer Dean Tomlinson with Nathan Smith, and within minutes Nathan Smith was chasing a ball clean through, only for the goalkeeper to come out to meet him and get too close for him to lift the ball over him and make a save.

Substitute Nathan Smith was causing Abbey Lakes a few problems and the Abbey Lakes defender, were only able to foul the Amberswood striker conceding a few free kicks, that came to no avail.

Then Amberswood were caught on the break and were forced to concede a corner, and as the ball came into the box, the ball was cleared to the edge, where an Abbey Lakes striker was waiting and floated the ball into the right side top corner of the net.

Within minutes Amberswood thought they had the equaliser, this opportunity too came from a corner kick as Abbey Lakes had cleared the ball a little further than the edge of the box and a little to their right, but Amberswood left back Martin Gregson came flying in and unleashed a left foot volley that forced the Abbey Lakes goalkeeper to pull of an excellent save and push the ball over the ball for another corne kick, that came to nothing.

Towards the end of the game, Abbey Lakes gained a free kick on the right hand side, which they floated to the edge of the six yard box and the Abbey Lakes striker headed the ball down to the bottom left corner, and Amberswood goalkeeper Lee Fernyough was equal to it, as he dived down low and pushed the ball wide of the post.

Final Score Abbey Lakes 2 Amberswood 1 A game which Amberswood struggled in the last third of the pitch against a very solid back four.

Man Of The Match: Darren Ainscough who started off attacks from the back as well as creating a solid defensive display.