EV2 Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League Premier Division
Wombwell Main 2-0 Penistone Church Reserves
Second half goals from Jamie Knox and Sam Jones led young pretenders Wombwell Main to victory in the derby clash with faltering Penistone Church Reserves.
Terry Simon will have been doing cartwheels down the touchline, especially considering most of the glamour players such as Kieran Hirst, Ben Knox and the league’s top goal-scorer Ryan Wingrove were unavailable.
The victory under-lines how much young talent Wombwell have at their disposal and proves experienced manager Simon’s youth revolution masterplan is bearing fruits.
The three points also revive Wombwell’s fifth place aspirations and defeat leaves out of luck Penistone’s title bid up in smoke, if it wasn’t already.
At half-time Church had a good chance of victory but Knox and Jones condemned them to a fifth consecutive defeat.
Even Wombwell’s strike-force was makeshift as defender Aaron Tate led the line with Gadhafi Kiwanuka.
It must be said though that Tate was outstanding and his display was very reminiscent of how a young Danny Frost used to terrorise defences at his peak.
Talented Wombwell goalkeeper Steve Crossland made two terrific first half saves – one from 3 at point blank range and another from Jack Moore.
Wombwell spent a lot of the second part of the first half on top – although their flow was disrupted by captain Jake Simon’s bizarre sin-binning.
During the domination, Sam Martin had header cleared off-the-line.
The home side also breached Church’s defence three times. The third time was the best chance.
Kiwanuka was literally through one-on-one on former Worsbrough Bridge goalkeeper Jared Oxley but he got his shot wrong and the stopper caught the attempted lob with ease.
Moore hit the woodwork in an early second half raid from Church but that was it in terms of their offering and Wombwell soon seized control after the hour mark.
Atley Jackson whipped a corner into the six-yard-box and Knox rose in-between Oxley and one-time Worsbrough defender Owen Wildblood to head home.
Wombwell rarely looked troubled and the second goal put Penistone out of their misery with a moment of magic from Jones.
A corner sailed all the way to the edge of the penalty area and Jones took it down and sent a rasping volley into the net with his second half.
What They Said
Wombwell Main manager Terry Simon
“I think it was a fair result.
“I thought we were the better side.
“In the first half we had a 20 minute spell where we looked really good and started to dominate the game.
“We then had a man sin-binned so it gave them some impetus and they got back into it without really hurting us.
“Stevie (Crossland) has made a great save at 0-0 (before the sin-binning).
“With our chances, Daf has gone through a minute before half-time and tried to lob the ‘keeper.
“I think we had four-or-five other opportunities.”
Penistone Church Reserves manager Scott Briggs
“We weren’t good enough in the second half throughout the team.
“They had three chances and scored two (in the second half).
“We’ve hit the post and had a couple of scrambles.
“We did well in the first half and stayed in the game.
“We came in at half-time with a positive mindset because we had had chances and we were playing alright.
“We had to change our formation to try and get a goal back which obviously didn’t work.
“We’re just going to have to try and get ourselves up for next Saturday.”
The Teams
Wombwell Main: S Crossland, Martin, Graham, Knox, Tate, Jones, D Jackson, Guest, Simon (captain), A Jackson, Kiwanuka. Subs: Durose, Fenton, Kenny.
Penistone Church Reserves: Oxley, Lee, Matthews, Machen, Wildblood, Levesley, Sheperd, Moore, Stead, Drew, Briscoe. Subs: Wigglesworth, Cross, Roberts.
Who Was In Charge
Luke Smith (7/10)
How Many Were There
Around 50 (no confirmation of whether anyone was watching from nearby bedrooms)
Man of the Match
Gadhafi Kiwanuka (Wombwell Main)
