Gedling MW 2-1 Anstey Nomads

Tuesday 11th January 2011 -- EMCL Yes. We went to Plains Road and witnessed a home victory!! The "On The Road" jinx well and truly broken, although Welfare made really hard work of it !! To cap it all, Welfare went to the top of the table with this win.....

 

We last saw Anstey at Heanor where they got a 9-0 battering - they never looked like being hammered as this game settled down - in fact it was difficult to tell who was high flying and who was in mid-table.....

Gedling had drafted in a local keeper, Sean Reddington, as Ross Cherry had work commitments. Reddington was, apparently, Woodborough United's keeper, and he found the step up a little to much. He made a very nervous start, and did little to inspire confidence in his back four.

To be quite blunt, the first half was poor, with only the two goals giving me anything to write about - pleased really, because it was flaming cold and gloves were the order of the day.

Stefan Joyce in the Nomads goal had looked confident enough, but after 40 minutes play, Barry Payne ran at him at the near post, Joyce upended the big midfielder giving Referee Mr. Swain no option other than to award a penalty. PAYNE picked himself up, dusted himself off and fired the ball home to give Gedling the lead. The lead lasted only 4 minutes though - Nomads no. 11 WESLEY YORK tried his luck from 25 yards out and was as surprised as anyone when the ball slid under Reddington and flew into the net. H-T 1-1

Decided to grab a cuppa at half-time, and had a tot of whisky added to it - very warming, and as Kev was driving there was no problem....very nice brew - hic!!

The half time interval for Gedling was all of 8 minutes - they came out early for a bit of a kick about before the second half began. The main reason seemed to be that Reddington had been replaced in goal by centre-half Hasham Ramadam, and he wanted some shot saving practice - Danny Roberts dropped into defence with Ben Horton coming on in midfield.

Anstey hit the post in just the 1st minute of the second period, but luck was on the home teams side and the rebound was cleared to safety. The winning goal was scored in the 59th minute - BAZ PAYNE stretching out a long leg to steer home Dave Marlow's left wing cross. That made it 10 for the season so far for Payne - taking him above striker Ben Greenhalgh who missed this game through injury.

Welfare were made to sweat for the final half-hour - or as Kev quaintly puts it - " squeeky bum-time!!" The Plains Road outfit held on with Ramadam keeping a clean sheet, and for a couple of days at least can sing " we are top of the league, say we are top of the league!!"....

Admission £4

Programme £1

Attendance 72

Off to watch 2nd placed Heanor on Saturday - the take on Bardon Hill in 6th .. should be a cracker!