Pitching In Northern Premier League Midland Division

ST NEOTS TOWN           1           RC WARWICK           2

St Neots slumped to their fourth consecutive home league defeat – all by the odd goal – and had central defender Charlie Bowen sent off deep into added time as frustration set in for the home side. The significant moment in the match came after 24 minutes when Referee Jonathan Lam awarded the visitors a controversial penalty for a handball offence and this seemed to knock the stuffing out of the home side who had dominated the opening exchanges. They then conceded a second goal before the break but recovered to produce a storming second half performance that fell just short of earning the draw that they deserved. Manager Cameron Mawer made two changes for the match with recent signing Lewis Burgess coming in for the departed Murphy Culkin and striker Rhys Thorpe returning after suspension with James Stainsby starting on the bench.

St Neots began the match in confident style against a side that had climbed into the top third of the table. In the first significant attack of the match, Kieran Barnes cross to find the head of Rhys Thorpe and his effort was acrobatically turned over the bar by visiting keeper Tom Allsopp. From the resultant corner Charlie Bowen won the ball but his firm header was well saved by the keeper.  The lively Harvey Williams then burst through but shot narrowly over the bar and up to that point little had been seen of the visiting attack.  However, all that changed after 24 minutes when the visiting side were awarded a rather soft penalty after a forward tumbled in the box. James Harding sent James Goff the wrong way to open the scoring and St Neots seemed to lose their confidence as the visitors pushed them back. On a break Kieran Barnes had a shot blocked but the visiting side had taken the initiative and were dominating the attacking play. They were duly rewarded six minutes before the break when a Ryan Moore corner was not cleared and from the edge of the area Dylan Barkers unleashed a fierce volley that flew into the net to double the visitors’ lead.

St Neots came out after half time having regained their confidence and composure. They took the game to their opponents and Williams burst through to bring a good save from Allsopp. New boy Lewis Burgess was making his presence felt with a string of long throws into the penalty area and from one of these Harvey Henderson forced Allsopp into another smart save.  St Neots then varied their approach introducing striker James Stainsby to keep the pressure on the visiting defence. This move paid off just seven minutes after his arrival when he got on the end of a Thorpe flick on from a corner to reduce the arrears. St Neots then further upped the pressure by introducing the lively Eniola Agemoh-Davies and the visitors began timewasting tactics that would see ten minutes added at the end of the game. Despite the pressure the visiting defence held out, and St Neots paid the ultimate price for their frustration with the late dismissal of Bowen.

 

 

Today’s Saints Supporters’ Man of the Match, In association with The Greystones Public House – Sammy Willis

 

 

 

 

 

St Neots Town:  Goff, Willis, Burgess, Parker, Henderson, Bowen, Furlong, Ankrah, Thorpe, Barnes, Williams

Subs:  Stainsby (for Ankrah 60 mins), Agemoh-Davies(for Barnes 71 mins). Richard-Noel (for Furlong 74 mins),Obeng and Muyembe.

Cards:   Bowen (RED – 90+5 mins), Willis (Y – 55 mins), Parker (Y – 73 mins)

Goals:  Stainsby (67 mins),

Racing Club Warwick:  Allsopp, Moore, Hancocks, Turner, Barnett, Barkers, Edwards, Coyle, Harding, Hamp. Ebbutt

Subs:  Opoku (for Harding 75 mins), Taylor (for Coyle 77 mins), Blackmore (for Ebbutt 79 mins), Andrews, and Hamilton.

Cards:  Barnett (Y – 71 mins), Hamp (Y – 77 mins)

Goals: Harding – pen – (24 mins), Barkers (39 mins)

Attendance: 256

Referee:  Jonathan Lam (Bedford)

(John Walker)