“There’s no place like home”.
We would disagree at the moment. Since the turn of the year we have struggled at Park Road; four league matches, four defeats. There’s two more opportunities to put that right before a rather indifferent 2018-19 campaign comes to a close.
All smiles during the pre-match warm-up!
Looking back at my notes for the match I recorded only one direct shot on-target for us in the whole match; that came on 18 minutes courtesy of Rhys Clooney. His effort from the edge of the area could have been one of those that the keeper failed to spot due to the traffic in front of him but he was alert enough to gather it safely.
Other than that we would have to admit that Stone OA had the better of it overall.
As early as the 3rd minute they got themselves down the right (their no7 Williams was a nuisance all match) only for their tall striker Tomlinson to head over from close range.
A couple of their corners then came to not-very-much before they forced a world-class save from Danny Whiting who somehow managed to push a point-blank header over the bar.
Rhys Clooney
Stone OA really should have been 1-0 up shortly before half-time as they contrived to act out the miss of the season. A header back across goal was on a plate for one of their unmarked strikers a yard out from goal but, with the goal gaping, he opted for a low header and somehow managed to scoop it over the crossbar.
They did take the lead early in the second half, though.
On 53 minutes Ollie Hatfield-Banton unfortunately got the ball stuck under his feet on the edge of the area with possession lost to Stone OA’s Samuel Wilson. With Danny Whiting off his line Wilson coolly clipped the ball over him into the far corner of the net.
Stone OA increased their lead on 72 minutes with a penalty that David Ablewhite crashed home.
Four more to go. Two at home, two away. Next up is a visit from Alsager Town this coming Saturday. 3.00pm kick off…..
TEAM: Whiting, Neild, Daulby (Son), Naughton, Dunn, Hatfield-Banton, Wallis, Egan, Clooney, Lewys (Benjamin), Knight (Ntalu). SUBS: Christopher, Ntalu, Son.