Lonsdale 3-1 Furness
Furness kicked off the game in great fashion as attaining possession was clearly a working strategy in the opening stages of the first
half.
Keeping the ball mostly within Lonsdale’s half of the pitch, Furness stuck with a close passing game and began to look threatening whilst leaving the Lonsdale players ball chasing through the majority of the first half.
Lonsdale’s only threats came down their right wing but they found themselves stopped in their tracks each time by Furness left back Rob Wade.
Lonsdale coped well with the early pressure however as each attacking attempt (though well crafted) struggled to get through the 18-yard box. Despite this, Furness’ machine of a man Sameer Bhayat (officially covering the entire pitch as his positioning) was staggering. In attack and defence he gave the team great inspiration in their movement.
On the 20-minute park, Furness came agonisingly close to scoring from a corner kick as the ball was cleared inches from the line. This set a precedent for Lonsdale whose solid defence dealt with all set-pieces played into their area fairly comfortably and proved to be able to clear the ball when needed.
Lonsdale began to show strength in the counter attack as the game progressed, as they sought to build on the constant bombardments from Furness. Most attacks were dealt with calmly by opposing defender Sam Walsh.
Furness’s Rick Chartier had several nail biting chances in the game as he took an attempt at lobbing Lonsdale’s keeper only to be denied by a great finger tip save which left the ball floating just over the right side of the bar.
Despite all of Furness’s efforts in the first half, a shock counter attack finally paid off for Lonsdale as a high ball played into Furness’s penalty area found Lonsdale striker Pete McCarthy who lobbed the keeper with a touch off his knee in the 43rd minute.
The sudden onslaught did not end there as Lonsdale scored once again just moments later. After some impressive attacking play on the left wing, Idriss Dhabi led another speedy Lonsdale attack to once again chip the keeper bringing the score to 2-0 in the 44th minute.
Two goals coming absolutely out of nowhere were almost instantly countered by Furness right winger Mike Easto. Easto picked up the ball almost immediately from kick off to place a left footed shot across the 18-yard box into the net as the first half ended thrillingly with the score at 2-1 to Lonsdale.
The second half began with Furness left winger Mark McMahon looking dangerous down the flank. However, the game began to even up with possession interchanging back and forth between the two sides and Lonsdale’s McCarthy continuing to look hazardous in the Furness penalty area.
A set piece for Furness on the hour mark began to give the side hope once more. Winger Easto curved a quality ball inches over the bar and then began to convert chances from Sam Walsh’s cannon throw-ins.
Pressure was placed right back on Furness moments later as Lonsdale were awarded a series of corners totalling five in row. On the fifth, James Beaumont of Lonsdale headed an excellent ball into the back of the net bringing the score to 3-1.
Substitutes Mike Tyres and Ric Kotarski came on for Furness late in the game to increase the intensity of attack; both impacted the game heavily as Furness desperately sought a goal. Lonsdale however managed to deter all dangers.
The game finished 3-1 to Lonsdale. Both captains had positive views of the match with Furness captain Tom Roberts stating “it was one of the best performances we’ve had as a team so far, on another day we could have put three or four goals past them.” Lonsdale skipper Chris Floodgate said “it was good to get the first win of the season in the bag, and now we will build on this.”
