Venue: Eagle Valley Stadium, Arnold, Nottinghamshire
Competition: North Midland Delvelopment League - U19 Division
Scorers:
Arnold - Liam Towle (58, 88)
City - Will Stocks (30)
I took in this fixture last season, and it was a belter of a game. This was almost as good, with both teams showing plenty of skill and endeavour throughout the 90 minutes. City had one 15 year old and several 16 year olds in their starting eleven - looking to rebuild after the majority of last seasons players have moved on.
As usual at the Valley, it was a bit on the chilly side - although autumn does seem to be upon us rather early this year! Stood on my own for the first half an hour, then Southwell broke the deadlock and first team boss Dave Scott came over to tell me that the scorer was Will Stocks - the young man latching onto a superb cross from David Gray. H-T 0-1
I've been on friendly terms with a lot of managers over the past few years, but rarely do you meet one with so much passion for both his club and the game. Dave was originally with Southwell St. Mary's - then when the clubs merged, he joined City and the club now boast no less than four senior teams!
Dave emailed a video of Charlie Wand's clever drag back - this lad is the fifteen year old mentioned earlier.
The home team began well from the restart and were level with 13 minutes of the half played, Liam Towle heading home a left wing corner at the near post. Southwell shook off the effects of the equaliser quickly enough and were soon dominating the game, but a combination of good goalkeeping and solid defending kept the scores level.
Arnold grabbed all three points with just two minutes to play. After Southwell keeper Lee Quickenden had failed to hold onto a fierce drive from 22 yards, the ball dropped to Towle who, with back to goal, calmly lifted the ball over his head, over the outstretched arms of Quickenden and into the net. F-T 2-1
Admission: £2 (inc programme)
Attendance: h/c 42
Charity: £2.25
