Stalybridge Celtic 0 Solihull Moors 3
So ... a lovely sunny morning for wandering around Saddleworth - shame that the "shoving letters through doors" part interferes with a nice walk !! Still - home in good time (-ish) to ruh for the train down to Stalybridge and another bit of a walk with a heavy bag on my shoulder (i.e. up the Mottram Road). Quick pre-match bottle and out into the sun to see if Stalybridge could sort out their winless league streak ... began fairly well, looking comfy on the ball, playing it around a bit - but unfortunately no real "zip" once the penalty area was reached. However Solihull gave as good as they got - if anything a bit quicker, snappier - and looked a lot more dangerous in and around the Celtic box; and then, in the 39th minute the visitors took the lead with a sort of miscued overhead effort from Junior English that deceived everyone (including the scorer probably). A it of a blow ... in more ways than one ... my "Golden Goal" ticket ...
Now if he'd just taken a few more touches on the ball before scoring ...
Once that goal went in you could see the confidence visibly drain out of the home side - and straight into the visitors. The half-time break made little difference and within ten minutes of the restart it was 3-0 to the Moors. Substitutions were made by Celtic, and a bit more of a concerted effort was made on the visitors goal - but they held firm to record only their third away win of the season.
It was all a touch depressing for the home faithful ... the crowd was a very disappointing 308 - OK better than the 123 last Tuesday, but low considering it was a nice sunny afternoon - and yes we can guess where many of the "stay-aways" were ... in the pubs watching Man Utd v Norwich on the old "Sky Italia" - even in Mossley now, the "Britannia" has invested in one of these "EuroSatellite" systems - "If you can't beat 'em ... join 'em" was the official quote - and what with several other pubs in the town having the same - and of course several pubs that I know of in Stalybridge having the same ... it may help the ailing pub trade, but it's doing little to help the non-league trade ... this coming Tuesday, we have Celtic at home to Runcorn Linnets in the Cheshire Senior Cup, Droylsden at home to Altrincham in the Conference North, Mossley at home to Cammell Laird in the Evo-Stik One North .....
..... and Man Utd v Real Madrid on the telly ... hmmm .....
OK, there were a few smiles when the Hyde (lost 0-1 at home to Newport County) and Droylsden (lost 0-7 at home to Bradford PA) results came through - but it can't hide the fact that Celtic's season is going nowhere at the moment - and there'll certainly be more than 308 at Bower Fold this afternoon when FC United(3rd in Evo Prem) "move in again" to play their home game against top-of-the-table North Ferriby United.
In results elsewhere ... Ashton United recorded a good 2-0 away win at Nantwich Town, Curzon Ashton continued their surge towards the play-offs with a fine 3-0 win away at Trafford - conversely, Mossley slipped out of the play-off positions after a 0-0 up at Lancaster City.
No I won't be up at Bower Fold this afternoon - having a lazy "indoors day" ... by lazy I mean cleaning/cooking/tidying etc - next week I'm on the early (0645hrs) starts so ... and I definitely WON'T be sitting in a pub on Tuesday night ...
.
No comments:
Post a Comment