With Hyde also drawing 2-2 away at Eastwood Town today, Stalybridge will view this as 2 points thrown away.
They started well enough, passing the ball about with the confidence you'd expect from a team who've begun with 9 wins 1 draw. Chances were being created, a goal was on the cards. And from what I'd read beforehand, Stalybridge had been threatening a thrashing from the way they've been playing so far this season - it was looking like this game could be shaping up to be just that.
12th minute and Gloucester ripped up that potential script - a punt forward caught out the Stalybridge defence who were unsure how to deal with it, Morford finding himself in space entering the penalty area slotted it into the left corner to give Gloucester a shock lead.
Stalybridge tried to continue piling forward as they had been but there were signs of their young side looking rattled. As the half continued, the longer they couldn't make a breakthrough the more desperate their passing became - it started getting rushed and trying to play killer passes too soon, and as a result Gloucester were able to frequently intercept and look to catch them out on the break, with several big chances created by them whilst Stalybridge looked like they were running out of ideas. Frustration was getting to Stalybridge, not helped by some questionable decisions by the ref who seemed to let a lot of blatent Gloucester fouls go ignored.
Then just before half time, Stalybridge were trying another hesitant attack that wasn't really going anywhere. Lloyd Ellams got the ball about 5 yards outside the penalty area and there wasn't a pass on. Gloucester had backed off to mark up and block all his passing options - but they hadn't considered that he might just have a shot himself. Into the top corner it sailed, and the teams went in level.
Stalybridge tried to push forward again at the start of the second half and Connor Jennings got the breakthrough in the 56th minute, Lloyd Ellams running through on goal passing it to Jennings on the left side of the penalty area and he curled it into the top right corner, a cracking finish and as it stood this would put Stalybridge top of the league, with Hyde who were 2 points above them before the game currently losing 2-1.
The outright top scorer for Stalybridge has been Phil Marsh so far this season, but he was replaced in the 60th minute. In truth the game was passing him by and he didn't seem to be doing much to try to play a part - perhaps his form going to his head here. He had a hissy fit as he went off, but the manager appeared to be sending the message that he's not keeping players on who don't put the effort it.
Unfortunately this didn't seem to help out Celtic, who didn't really create much in the following 20 minutes and the game was becoming scrappy. This suited Gloucester who were relying on set pieces and counter attacking moments caused by Stalybridge mistakes. And it was one of these mistakes that gave them the equaliser - Adam Kay, a 66th min sub for Stalybridge, was in truth having a shocker and was one of the main reasons why they had become so scrappy. With several easy passing options ahead of him he instead played an aimless pass straight at a Gloucester player, who passed forward putting Steve Davies through on goal, and he chipped the Stalybridge goalkeeper in the 82nd minute to make it 2-2.
Stalybridge rallied forward again from this point on, gaining many corners and having a number of shots saved or narrowly wide. But time ran out for them and Gloucester celebrated the draw, a cracking point from their perspective.
As the disappointed Celtic fans left the ground, I heard one say "well, at least Hyde are losing 2-1 so we'll gain a point on them". To add to their disappointment, a minute later Hyde scored a last minute equaliser.
No comments:
Post a Comment