Quick-fire goals earn Welfare win

Toolstation NCEL Division One

Glasshoughton Welfare 3-0 Retford United

Three goals in five second minutes earned Glasshoughton Welfare a throughly deserved victory over a poor Retford United side who sadly seemed more interested in castigating the match officials rather than playing the game.

A headed Conor Glavin goal got Welfare on the score sheet and two from substitute Ryan Ferguson wrapped Glasshoughton’s third consecutive home victory up. The visitors showed a complete lack of discipline throughout the game and deservedly ended the contest with only nine players.

In truth, Glasshoughton could have had the game signed, sealed and delivered at half-time.

Although the showman Ryan Poskitt was suspended and unable to attend the fixture because of extremely important business commitments in the North East of England, his inspirational aura could be heavily felt over Leeds Road.

His comrades did him proud, eventually…

Welfare attacked from the off and man of the match Rob Oldham hit a free kick just over the visitors’ bar. Andy Horbury had a couple of efforts blocked for corners and Glavin somehow missed the target from six yards with his shot that went over the bar.

Throughout the game Welfare keeper Mateusz Zaniewski was hardly tested and only had a couple of long range efforts to deal with.

Retford’s first press of the self-destruct button came in the 22nd minute. Connor Rollinson was all set to score when Retford goalkeeper James Gamble handled outside his box. Referee Mr Cavanagh blew his whistle, but instead of sending off Gamble, the rookie official ran 70 yards in the other direction to speak to flagging assistant referee Nigel Haycock. After a brief discussion, Retford striker Tom Mullen was sent off for threatening Haycock 30 second earlier.

The official then made a mess of the situation by incorrectly awarding a drop ball, when he should have given Glasshoughton a free kick in their own half.

Welfare continued to attack. Leaping legend Adam Walsh had a header disallowed for offside and the referee ignored two solid penalty claims after both Horbury and Mitch Wilshire had their shirts ripped off their backs in separate incidents. Gamble also did well to push a Horbury effort for a corner.

A Glasshoughton goal did feel inevitable, but it took time. Welfare opened the second half well and Gamble made good saves from Glavin and Wilshire.

You could hear a massive gasp of relief around Leeds Road when the pressure eventually told.

Welfare took the lead on 66 minutes when a trademark Walsh header put the ball back in the mixer from Oldham’s fine corner. Glavin reacted and headed home through a crowd of bodies.

The visitors were dead and buried within a further five minutes. Ferguson was put through and he finished well beating Gamble with a shot from the edge of the area. A minute later he tapped home his second when Gamble could only parry an Oldham cross. Glavin then saw a free kick crash against the post and Ferguson could have had  a third as his effort went just over the bar. Glavin also missed a further open goal, a chance that he may lead to him waking up in cold sweats from nightmares about it.

The visitors were reduced to one men a few minutes from time when a wild, needless and mindless challenge on Horbury from Josh Aitken saw him receive a second yellow card – although it must be said that he could have arguably been shown a straight red card for it.

What They Said

Glasshoughton Welfare joint manager Lee Vigars

“A good solid performance today against a spirited Retford side who in all honesty never really tested us. We dominated the ball right from the start and created numerous chances throughout the opening half but failed to take any.

“Things were made even harder for our opponents when they were reduced to ten men following dissent from their striker. It’s never as easy as people think to play against ten men as the shape of the game changes and things can become disjointed.

“We spoke at half time about being patient, keeping the shape we started with against their 11 men and in time the chances would come. We had to be more clinical and that’s exactly what we were.

“Again, we created chance after chance and the Retford keeper made some excellent saves to keep the scores level.

“Eventually Conor Glavin headed us in front which seemed to really damage Retford’s confidence after defending so well for so long.

“Ryan Ferguson then scored two good goals to kill the game off. In reality it could of been a lot more than three with a bit more composure in the final third but it was still an impressive win that keeps our good run of form going.”

The Teams

Glasshoughton Welfare: Zaniewski, Marsh (Horn), Oldham, Hunter, McManus, Walsh, Rollinson (Ferguson), Akeister, Horbury, Glavin, Wilshire.

Retford United: Gamble, Larcombe=Loftus, Betts, Walters, Pickering, Aitken, Bartram, Parkin, Mullen, Scully, Birchall. Subs: Bennett, Smith, Gamban, Casburn, Collinson.

Man of the Match

Rob Oldham (Glasshoughton Welfare)

Thanks to Garry Mollon for this report.