LTHC Men’s 3rd XI 4 vs Leicester Westleigh Men’s 1st XI 2
MRHA T2 – East Midlands 1
Saturday 23rd February 2019
Loughborough Town Men’s 3rd XI recorded only their 3rd victory of the season with a comprehensive 4-2 win over Leicester Westleigh Men’s 1st XI. The game, however, did not start well for the home side. Some poor defensive work allowed the away side to grab an early lead as an attempted aerial ball went astray and straight to an opposition forward.
Things got worse before they got better for Town with the introduction of the captain Peter Hayes. A poor challenge just outside the 25, resulted in a green card and two minutes of the pitch. Down to 10 men, Town soaked up pressure whilst hitting the away side on the break. Some excellent through balls from Liam Brown and Lawrie Bayne gave George Gutteridge several opportunities but couldn’t be converted.
Gutteridge persistence finally paid off with a quick fire brace. The first strike was a deft sweep in to the top left of the net. The second was an excellent reaction deflection from a short corner. Town 2-1 up at half time.
Continuous movement from Charlie Reynolds and Jono Griffiths ensured the chances kept coming in the second half. With Westleigh down to ten men after getting a yellow card, Town extended their lead when Brown sweeped in from close range. A fourth goal soon followed after a mazy run from Nathan Byrne found Tommy Ross who fired into the back of the net.
With Town 4-1 up, Westleigh did get back into the match with a second ten minutes from time. A ball fired into the D was deathly deflected into the back of the net past stationary keeper Joe Oram. However Town soaked up the pressure and the game ended with Town taking the 4-2 win, and earning 3 vital points to keep them clear of the bottom two relegation spots.
MOM went to Joe Oram for some fine saves in goal. DOD went to Gav Guest for several opportunities missed in front of goal.
