Dell Rangers 5-1 Freshfield
17th November 2002
Dell Rangers outplayed, outthought must most importantly outfought Freshfield on a day when little went right. Most disappointing for Manager Andy Smith will have been the disappointing effort from his team, who in the early stages of the game looked more than a match for this opposition. With 10 injured, at least 2 working and 1 preferring the hospitality of the Liverpool Ramblers, the Freshfield squad was cut to almost its bare minimum, and with Geoff Booker and Tony Lynch in the goals recently, Tommy Smith was left to impress in the 2nd XI. How his work ethic was missed at Meols Park.
The bright start that Freshfield made came to early fruition when a speculative cross from Geoff Booker was fumbled onto the post and then in by the Rangers goalkeeper. Freshfield held the ball well, though playing Lynch up front on his own meant that there were few channels to release the ball into and a spare man in midfield with little definition to his role. Nigel Power, back in goal and back on form, did well to scramble across his goal to keep out a Dell effort ten minutes after the opening goal but was powerless to prevent the equaliser, a rebound from the cross bar driven home whilst the Freshfield defence stood rooted to the spot.
At half-time a conventional 4-4-2 formation was adopted, but the application required to make it effective evapourated. Dell took the lead from a corner early in the second half and increased their lead when Freshfield failed to clear their lines and the ball was drilled home into the bottom corner with emphatic style. At the other end Chris Jones's tantalising cross was headed just wide by Brian McGlynn, who had made good ground just to get to the ball at all. In truth, that was Freshfield's only chance of the half. Paul Hayes was pushed forward, but the three-man defence that remained struggled to cope and Dells' 4th and 5th goals came when on each occasions an extra man was unmarked and scored easily. The hope that was left after the impressive perfoamce against Ainsadle has all but evapourated; it's back to the drwaing board.
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Team
Nigel Power |
Manager's Man of the Match
Player's Man of the Match
Supporter's Man of the Match
Attendance |