| Gadeside Rangers maintained their late promotion push with a narrow victory over Watford Irish at Westfield. The result gave Gadeside revenge from their opening day defeat - also by the same scoreline - against the Irish as they keep pace with the teams at the top on which they have games in hand. |
| Gadeside were put under early pressure by Watford Irish as their direct play down the channels initially caught the Gadeside defence flat footed. But a combination of last ditch defending and confident goalkeeping by Tom Oliver ensured that Gadeside did not concede early. They soon grew into the game and several good breaks down the left hand side involving Russ Popplewell saw the visitors having to defend for their lives. Popplewell delivered a teasing ball across the face of the goal but no-one was on hand to turn the ball in and then Tariq Khan saw a snapshot well held by the Irish keeper. Adam Hills should have opened the scoring on 20 minutes when he pounced on a fumble by the keeper but he shot into the ground and the keeper recovered to turn the ball over the bar. Dave Nelmes was the next to go close to opening the scoring with a surging run from midfield but his powerful strike just sailed over the bar with the keeper well beaten. However, all too often Gadeside's final pass was poor albeit not helped by the bobbly surface. |
| The Irish knocked the ball around well in midfield and enjoyed the lions share of possession but they lacked a cutting edge in attack and Gadeside defended comfortably. The games only goal came minutes before the break when another strong run by Nelmes saw him brought down on the edge of the area. Referee Wakefield played a good advantage allowing Popplewell to cut inside and fire a low effort into the bottom corner via a deflection of an Irish defender. |
| The second half was a scrappy affair as both sides repeatedly gave the ball away and struggled to create any clear opportunities. Nelmes fired wastefully over when well placed from the edge of the area and Popplewell couldn't quite get the ball away after beating his marker. At the other end, Watford Irish pushed men forward in search of an equaliser and came close when Kazer's effort was partially saved by Tom Oliver but fell into the path of Lambe who was unable to guide the ball home at the far post. As the game entered its final minutes - tempers showed as the referee was forced to caution Nelmes and Khan and both sides came close to grabbing goals. First Tom Oliver produced a superb acrobatic save when he pushed over a long range volley and then Adam Hills' diving header looped just wide of the far post from Khan's cross. But the Gadeside defence stood firm once again and claimed their fourth clean sheet in five league games. |
| After the game, player/manager Hills commented: "This was a scrappy game that was crying out for a bit of quality. But every team has their off day and whilst we lacked that bit of inventiveness, across the park the effort and commitment was first class and in that sense, I cannot ask for more. It's a vital 3 points that keeps our momentum going." |
| Tom Oliver, Ian Freeman, Jason Brownhill, Matt Evans, Jay Evans, Daniel Brooks, James Bryon (Ben Higginson), Dave Nelmes, Adam Hills, Tariq Khan, Russ Popplewell |