Halifax Irish 1 - 3 Marsden AFC

Cuckoo King · Halifax Irish 1 - 3 Marsden AFC

Halifax Irish 1 – 3 Marsden AFC

Marsden visited Natty Lane for the 1st time this season to play the similarly placed Halifax Irish and looking to keep their great start to 2009 going having won their previous 3 games since the turn of the year.

The Cuckoos named an unchanged side for the 1st time this season but were forced to make a c

e after only 4 minutes when striker James Rayner was replaced by the returning Carl Sykes after the portly striker had pulled a hamstring in the bitterly cold conditions.

In a poor first 20 minutes there we a few half chances but nothing concrete then Marsden started to get the ball down and play some of the free flowing football that The Cuckoo's supporters have co0me to expect. Marsden finally took the lead through winger Matt Davies after a quickly taken long throw-in was put straight into the right channel for Adam Rider by Shane Kelly, the tireless midfielder first touch was impeccable and he delivered an inch perfect pass straight onto the head of Davies who arrived late to give The Cuckoos the advantage! Marsden then grew in confidence and began to dominate the game in all areas of the pitch with Dave Brennan starting to make some of his trademark Gerrard-esque runs and was denied the chance to double Marsden's lead by a last gasp challenge just before the break. With the Cuckoo's looking likely to take the 1-0 advantage back into the dressing room at half time, the ref had an absolute shocker and gave Irish a softer penalty against Dave Conway than the one Howard Webb awarded Steven Taylor at St. James' Park on Sunday! Alex Tait stepped up and coolly slotted the ball low into the keepers bottom right hand corner!

In the 2nd half it was all Marsden but the visitors couldn't find a away through the miserly defence and on the rare occasions that the makeshift striker Sykes did find his way through it was generally because he was 10-20 yards offside! With Marsden attacking at every opportunity Irish had to resort to counter attacking football and would have taken the lead had it not been for the sheer brilliance of keeper Ashley Connor! After giving every offside, whether blatant or debatable against Marsden all day the referee seemed to forget that the same rules apply for both sides when 2 Irish strikers (a good 6 yards offside) ran through on Connors goal, with the Marsden back 4 (well 3 Shane K was never going to make it back in time) eating up the ground behind them the first striker selfishly took the ball himself and his low shot was superbly saved by Connor who reacted quickest and got up to block the 2nd shot before Matthew Butters cleared the ball for a throw in.

Marsden then took the lead through recently recalled midfielder Paul Storer after great work from Rich Conway in the middle, winning the ball then laying a perfect pass onto Rider who looped the ball over the top for Storer to run onto and lob the leagues smallest keeper with a deft first time chip, However Storer's celebration (ran off kissing his badge, IDIOT!) sparked rumours that he was going to make a big money move in the transfer window back to former club Holmbridge FC but with the transfer window now firmly shut, media hype was unsubstantiated! Marsden then thought they had moved 2 goals clear after a great move involving 7 of the Marsden players only for the referee to outrageously rule the goal out for offside! Ash Connor rolled the ball out to Sean Gant, Gant knocked the ball into the path of the now sobering Kelly, who played a neat 1-2 with Richy Conway before hitting a sweet 45 yard cross field drive to Davies, the rapid winger then cut inside and knocked a great ball over the defender to the surprisingly onside Sykes who drew the keeper out of his goal before hitting a square ball to the unmarked Adam Rider who arrived late at the back post to tap the ball into an empty net. Marsden had a scare when a great cross from the right left both Connor and Gant going or the ball, Unfortunately for him, Gant won the race and headed away only to receive a double fisted punch in the chops a split second later from Connor, nice! Marsden then scored a somewhat fortuitous yet perfectly executed 3rd after the ball had appeared to strike Sykes' hand before falling kindly straight at his feet, the 'striker' then pushed the ball 3 yards to his left before rifling the ball into the bottom corner. The referee then completely lost the plot and disallowed a perfectly legitimate Irish goal after the otherwise flawless Connor dropped the ball at the feet of Tait, who stabbed the ball in from 2 yards out only for the ref to rule it out for his studs being up, Shocking!

Not the best game but a well deserved and much needed 3 points for The Cuckoo's, next up a 6 point home with Overthorpe that will hopefully not turn into a rematch of the battle royal that saw 2 players get sent off in the mass brawl in the corresponding fixture earlier this year!

Something should be mentioned however that the standard of the match balls used on the day was absolutely shocking and the league should have a quiet word with Irish about improving these immediately!

W@nker of the week: James Rayner is a shoe in after not warming up properly and then pulling his hamstring after just 4 minutes!

Quote of the day: Dave & Rich Conway's mum; When asked what the score was after she had confessed to missing the first 10 minutes I replied “It's 3-1, been a poor game though hasn't it?” to which she retorted, in her strong Scottish accent, “Aye, it has been pretty shite!” Quality Mrs C, Quality!