Curzon Ashton Reserves 6 v Witton Reserves 0
Lancashire League
Saturday 3 December 2011
We arrived at Curzon Ashton at 1.15 the astro turf pitches were busy, the clubs cafe had been open since 7am. The Manchester League hire the astro turf all morning and the cafe would remain open until 5pm making money for Curzon Ashton FC.
Team: GK Massey, Davies, Carter, Owen, Watkins, Maddocks, Woolley, Burgess, Van Hein, Randle, Swann
Subs used: Siah, Hadzik, Ennion Snr
The much improved pitch at Curzon was prepared, marked out and cut short - perfect for playing football. Both teams took time to settle into the game with Curzon mainly on the front foot. Curzon’s first break through came after 10 mins with a well worked move. Their second goal came from a poor decision by the officials; the linesman had raised his flag for off side, the ref did not see and then the linesman put his flag down, Curzon scored - joke! Their third goal was from a cross shot, parried across his own box by Massey to a Curzon player - who finished well. 3 down with 25 mins gone. Witton did recover and a good moves from Van Hein, Swann and Carter resulted in chances missed by Randle in the box, Woolley in the box and our only shot on target was just before half time by Swann.
Half time Curzon 3 Witton 0
I did respectfully speak to the ref at half time about the half time incident. The ref told me that he had not seen the raised flag, so I advised the linesman to keep his flag raised in future. The referee apologised and admitted that they had made a mistake.
Knocks to Davies and Carter saw early changes in the half with Siah and Hadzik returning both having been out with long term injuries. The next goal was vital but unfortunately it was Curzon who scored from a long range cross over the back of the fullback Owen, our keeper should have come to clear but found himself in no man’s land and the Curzon winger finished with a chip over. Another 2 goals followed Witton dejected at this point. Much work is to be done by Witton to improve. Witton do not have under 17’s, 18’s to select from. Curzon who have Charter Standard, do have all youth teams and reserve team find themselves in a stronger position than Witton; this also gives them access to grants available to improve grounds and training facilities…but all these politics benefit their first team. Despite all their success the support for Curzon’s first team is poor. We do have good players Max Owen (18) made his debut today and played well, Sam Burgess (18) Captain on the day, did very well again, Carl Van Hein held ball up, closed down, worked hard, but man of the match for us was Luke Watkins - reads the game well, has the pace to get there, passes and heads the ball well, makes great tackles, so there are positives we just need help to develop these players as a club. Some of these players would benefit from training with our first team on a regular basis.
Two games at home before Christmas on 17 and 22 December.