A depleted Athletic squad travelled to Kent Road to face a young and new look NUR side. Six potential starters were missing for the Woodlands which meant a re-shuffle at the back in terms of personnel and formation. This led to Rob Butler having to drop back to centre back from his usual midfield role. It was a shaky start from the away side with the backline looking vulnerable down the right hand side.
On 15 minutes Athletic were 1-0 down after poor marking at a corner left an NUR player completely unmarked to head past Munday from 8 yards out. Woody’s were shell-shocked and looked like they could go even further behind 5 minutes later when another attack from the right required a smart interception from Heywood.
NUR didn’t have it all their own way though as a number of balls behind the defence allowed the speedy centre forward pairing of Stephenson and Chafer chances to test the opposing keeper. An equalizer came on 30 minutes when Wheldrake played the ball through to debutant Chafer who took the NUR defender in the box before squaring to Young who made an excellent run from right wing back to calmly pass the ball into the goal.
At 1-1 NUR still pressed and looked the better side. They got their rewards when a mistake in defence allowed the attacker time on the ball in the area to finish and put the home side in the lead once more. With the Athletic defence in disarray the system was changed to a 4-5-1 from 3-5-2 which immediately made them look more confident and stable. The football began to flow from defence, through midfield and up to the strikers like it had in previous games and they looked dangerous every time they got wide. Just before half time Woodlands drew level again when Chappell fed the ball into the path of Chafer who finished from 12 yards out.
The rallying call was issued at half time and Woodlands looked a different side as they kicked off and looked to get ahead for the first time in the game. With 5 minutes gone of the half Caldwell added to his impressive goal tally from midfield when captain Sharphouse laid the ball into his path after a goal mouth scramble. Confidence was high in the Woodlands camp and it was now NUR on the back foot. Five minutes later Wheldrake put daylight between the sides when he cut in off the left wing and beat two players before releasing a superb strike into the top corner from twenty yards out.
Woodlands were then handed an advantage when NUR’s Burnett was sent off for a second bookable offence. Caldwell soon added his second of the day to move top scorer for the Woodlands so far this season before Tuc Welsh made it 6-2 with an accomplished strike giving the keeper no chance. Man of match went to Gav Chappell for his outstanding display in midfield.
4 without defeat for Athletic and 3 straight wins scoring 19 goals in the process leading to a mouth watering encounter away to Vic Rangers this weekend. Match takes place Parkside. Players to meet at Woody’s 9.30am on Sunday.
