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10 men hold on to retain unbeaten record!
Whaley always find Rylands’ Gorsey Lane a difficult place to get any kind of result and today was no different however the visitors were by far the better side for the first half an hour. Whaley looked comfortable and composed in every department but couldn’t put the finishing touch to a lot of good approach play and wasted a few half chances.
Whaley looked dangerous from several set plays but headers from Broome, G Burgess & Newton went just wide. Then some good approach play from Broome and Leadbetter found Gilbride, his pass was handled by a Rylands defender on the edge of the box but still found Captain Newton in acres of space with only the keeper to beat; unfortunately the referee blew so no advantage - the resulting free kick from Gilbride went just wide as Yarwood was stranded.
Then against the run of play Rylands put together a good move down the right Stanisewski turned in the box and buried his shot hard and low past Tattersall. The home side had a good spell heading just wide from two free kicks but with minutes left before the break Whaley responded pressing high and a poor challenge gave Whaley a free kick. With players challenging the keeper dropped the ball and Sam Leadbetter was the quickest to react as he stabbed it home for a deserved equaliser; Whaley were now back in the game however the Rylands keeper Yarwood got injured in the melee and had to be carried off and replaced, hopefully his injury isn’t too serious.
Whaley were in a confident mood and from the kick-off were first to most tackles but then shot themselves in the foot. Howard made a horrendous challenge on Bailey and followed through with an elbow, Bailey jumped up and pushed Howard in the chest (he went down like me grandmother would and, for some reason, holding his face!). However Bailey gave the referee no option but to send him off with just a yellow for Rylands which seemed very unfair at the time. Ultimately the visitors gave Howard man of the match but tarnished by his antics in this incident.
40 minutes left and Whaley were down to ten men, with only one person upfront Whaley’s best option was to sit deep and not allow Rylands any space behind forcing Rylands to play in front of them. Rylands pressed looking for all three points, Whaley were hanging on and rarely broke out but all ten men worked hard for each other frustrating Rylands.
It was inevitable Rylands would get opportunities as Whaley tired, Daniels and Bell had efforts well saved by Tattersall who was solid in goals again. Whaley were saved by the cross bar as a bullet header bounced back and fell to a another Rylands player whose shot looked goal bound until Tattersall managed to tip it on to the bar and out for a corner. Whaley had only forwards on the bench and so their midfield and defenders had a very difficult 40 minutes but earned Whaley a very good point in the end.
No individual was man of the match today as all ten players gave everything they had and left everything on the pitch to earn the point to retain their unbeaten record so far this season.
Next week Whaley entertain Billinge at home KO still 15:00hrs.
J Tattersall J Gregory; R Newton (C); T Streets; J Broome; G Burgess; B Sutton; W Bailey; B Sutton; S Leadbetter (1); J Burgess
T Scorer; J Kelly |
