DRUID SPORT AND LEISURE WELSH NATIONAL DIVISION ONE
GRESFORD ATHLETIC RESERVES 2 OVERTON 1
Some people say it is sometimes hard to pick yourselves up immediately after winning a major Cup competition and this fact was borne out on Tuesday night when we huffed and puffed our way to a 2-1 win against rivals Overton Athletic.
In Ady's absence, Sam made many strategic changes to rest the tired limbs of Broady, Sooty, GPJ, Owen, Haggis, Richie Carr and Chal plus Big Pricey was unavailable so the first significant change was to re-introduce Craig Trow to our starting eleven. If there was ever an unsung hero at a football club then it must be Craig, he has waited patiently in the wings for his chance, come in at the eleventh hour and played out of his skin and was then resigned to the fact that Mike Price is first choice to down he steps to the sidelines. It does help therefore that Craig recognises this fact and knows how good Pricey is. Jeff Hennessey also made a rare appearance and to be fair acquitted himself well.
We did call up Kev Todd and Phil Jones to plug some gaps but with so many changes, we were very disjointed for the first half hour or so. We did get the breakthrough we needed though on the half hour mark when Keeno doubled his goals tally for the season with a thumping drive from just inside the box. Overton had had a fair share of the spoils at this stage and the neutrals would argue that their leveller just before half time from Joe Thelwell was thoroughly deserved.
At half time Sam stressed the importance of the result and the fact we needed a bare minimum of a point from the game to stand a better chance to finish in third spot.
We did seem ultra cautious for large spells and lacked the normal rhythm and sparkle and Trowie came to our rescue saving well from Pat Loughlin and Threfall.
As planned, Richie came on for Keeno and Chris Hughes was replaced by Shaun Winters with Phil Jones switching to attack which did alter the course of the game.
On 76 minutes, Robbie chased a lost caused, dispossessed an Overton defender allowing young Shauny to drill in a cross from the right which was eventually bundled over the line by Matt Davies.
The three points sets us up for a 3 rd place finish and provided a splendid platform to take us into the Horace Wynne Cup final on Friday.
Team:- 1. Craig Trow (7) 2. Jeff Hennessey (7) 3. Kev Todd (8) 4. Luke Peate (7) 5. Huw Birkdale (7) 6. Rob Jones (7) 7. Hugh Jones (7) 8. Paul Jones (7) 9. Chris Hughes (7) 10. Phil Jones (7) 11. M. Davies (7) SUBS :- 12. Steve Halliwell 7 14. Richie Carr (7) 15. Shaun Winter (7)
Man of the match because he oozed class was Kev Todd.