Woodley Sports v Mossley

Mossley's Steve Halford taking "Movember" to a Freddie Mercury extreme !!!

... an "interesting" night out !!

Arrived in good time (thanks again Dave !) to be greeted by a construction/bomb site !!!!!!! Where's the clubhouse gone ? Fortunately - after finding a parking space (not knowing about the 'new' parking area) - we found a portakabin selling "can's beer" (their apostrophe balls-up not mine !), which turned out to be lager, lager or cider. I chose the apple juice (!). It's certainly "all change" down at Lambeth Grove/Neil Rourke Stadium - not sure what Neil would make of it all either (especially the off-the-pitch "kerfuffles" ) ... oh and all the Australian accents (mentioned in previous thread) appeared to be drinking hot choccy and playing pool !!

Anyroad up in front a a very sparse crowd (official attendance was 120 - not convinced !!) with the majority of the crowd from Mossley (and a few hangers-on from Curzon Ashton spotted as well - spotted Mr "young" Young, Mr Hampson and Mr Flanagan to name but three !), Mossley got off to a flyer with Kayde Coppin's speculative cross/shot/kick/pass totally confusing Liam Higginbotham in the Woodley net to make it 1-0. The following 89 minutes was pretty much all Woodley. Missed their equaliser (too busy talking to their Press Officer vis-a-vis photographs - savage irony !), but ... most of the action was at the wrong end for this snapper. Just before half-time Liam H took a kick and went "ouch" - and the second half began with a sub keeper for Woodley - not just any sub keeper (not even a Marks & Spencer sub keeper !) but ex-Mossley hero Benji Richardson (who donned the keeper's jersey for Mossley last season in "that" 6-2 Darlington FA Cup game). Was he tested/put under any pressure - was he heck !

Again - me at wrong end for most of the action, and Woodley went on to score two more and run out well-deserved 3-1 winners. Strange that Mossley had a Saturday off and Woodley didn't - you'd hardly believe it on that performance ... still a lot of work required at the Mossley end to construct a team that gives 100% all the time, plays for 90 minutes, and has the ability to "adapt on the pitch as the circumstances change" - just seem to run out of ideas at times, shrink back into a shell and get pressured and pressured, eventually cracking - maybe youthful naivety has something to do with it - but with some experience at the back one would expect better. Hy ho - c'est la vie, c'est la guerre , c'est Evo-Stik ...

If you've lasted this far - some pictures at:

Woodley Sports 3 Mossley 1

One bonus today - received a copy of the "Worcester News" starring one of my pix from the Stalybridge/Worcester game - with a SixTameSides website credit underneath (one to stick in my "portfolio"). Also yesterday got an e-mail from the "Cambridge News" asking about Saturday's game twixt Stalybridge and Histon. Word gets around it seems ... now if only a full-time snapper job could appear ...
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