Hemlington Social club FC vs John Davey Ltd FC
At Hemlington Recreation Centre on 13/10/13 at 10:30am
The game began in wet and windy conditions but clearly this was not going to put the in-form Hemlington side off their stride.
They stated their intent almost from the off breaking the deadlock within 2 minutes. A corner from Stephen Chilver from the right was nodded home by Joe McKenna for a 1 nil lead.
With Hemlington sensing an easy game they immediately took their foot off the gas and conceded 2 minutes later ,With the Hemlington defence out of position a ball through left their striker to elude a challenge from Mark Roulston before bearing down on Damo Sizer in the Hemlington net and slotting the ball past him to level at 1-1 with 4 minutes gone.
John Davey then gave Hemlington a scare when they had managed to put the ball in the back of the net, only to have the goal chalked off for a barge on Sizer, which looked to be a good decision by the Referee.
A vicious 2 footed tackle on Paul Jenkins saw John Davey reduced to 10 men with 81 minutes of the game to play. Fortunately Jenkins was able to carry on. Despite the extra man Hemlington could still not take charge of the game but another well delivered corner from Chilver saw Joe McKenna get his second headed goal of the game for 2-1.
Again Hemlington did not push on and were pegged back level 5 minutes later. A cross cum shot from the left eluded Sizer who chose not to come and collect the ball found its way into the net for 2-2 after, 20 minutes.
Again the game proceeded to be played out evenly, but on 37 minutes Jenkins influence showed as he fired a free kick into the top right hand corner from around 20 yards out, 3-2 Hemlington.
Hemlington still did not take full control of the game and again survived a scare when John Davey had a shot canon back off the bar and then fired the follow up shot well wide from close range. Hemlington then did start to get the ball forward more with McKenna, Nelson and Chilver having chances. But half time saw the score line stay at 3-2.
The second half begun in a similar vein to majority of the first half but without the goals, the most action being a string of saves from Sizer and a substitution for Hemlington which saw Alex Brown replace Dan Caney up front. This looked a dubious decision as almost straight after John Davey had the ball in the net, but the goal was chalked off for offside after another fine save by Sizer in the Hemlington goal and rightly so.
Another substitution for Hemlington saw Dan Farnaby replace Joe McKenna, again Hemlington did not push on and it took a wonder goal from Hemlington goalkeeper Damo Sizer on 85 minutes to put them further ahead, With John Davey pushing for an equalizer their goalkeeper had come forward for a corner and after Sizer claimed the ball in the air he promptly hoofed the ball long, which bounced into an unguarded net with a John Davey defender and Alex Brown in pursuit.
This opened the floodgates slightly for Hemlington. A poor goal kick from the John Davey keeper, on 89 minutes fell to the feet of Paul Jenkins who deftly fired the ball back and into the net from about 30 yards.
A hat-trick for Jenkins was capped in the 90th minute, when some good play down the right hand side by Richie May saw him turn and set Jenkins away to run down the goalkeeper and fire home from inside the 18 yard box.
A good win for Hemlington, with a man of the match performance by Damo Sizer in between the sticks closely followed by a strong performance by Paul Jenkins and Lewi Mondal in the Hemlington engine room.
