Abbots Bromley fall foul to Bulls Head Marchington for a third time.

The

Bulls head returned to league action this weekend with a home fixture to Abbots

Bromley, just a week after knocking them out of the cup.  The conditions

couldn't have been anymore different from the previous week with glorious

sunshine for the much anticipated game as the visitors looked to avenge the two

previous fixtures this season. 

The Bulls head were forced into one change from the previous

week as Chris Rhead came back into the starting line-up for the absent Ashley

Young.  Abbots Bromley on the other hand were missing  key player and

Bromley Captain Ollie Crooks, but had the returning Jonathan Pearson and Gareth

Thomas to bolster their squad.  Like the previous week Abbots Bromley

started the best side and the home side appeared to be slow out of the blocks

with James Stevenson running the opening passage of play.  Greg Peters was

playing a more advanced role in midfield and it was the combination of Peters

and Stevenson that set the returning Marchington captain Gareth Thomas free of

the Marchington defence.  The alert Adam Johnson spotted the danger

quickly and made a brave claim at the feet of the striker.  Something that

was clear for all to see particularly when Bromley were enjoying possession was

the increased resilience with Michael Skelham at the heart of the Marchington

defence and his understanding with Wayne Salmon.

Marchington seemed comfortable soaking up the Bromley attacks

and looked to exploit their eagerness for the opener, on the break.  The

Bulls head did this through Petr Severa and Chris Rhead and with Max Kiddle

always looking to get forward to support the counter attacks.  

Marchington opened the scoring after a beautifully delivered free Kick from

Rory Maxwell, curled in behind the defence onto the diving head of Michael

Skelham for his second of the season.  The home side then had a good spell

of possession with Chris Richards dictating proceedings. The away side restored

parity though when Gareth Thomas was allowed to turn firing a shot from the

edge of the area which cannoned back off the post into the stride of Peters who

made no mistake from 6 yards.  If possession was an indicator of the first

half the away side clearly dominated without making any real chances, but it

would be the home side that went to the interval with the ascendancy. 

Chris Richards scored a trade mark wonder goal with a 30 yard bullet into the

top corner of the net past the despairing Mike Sweeting.

Marchington started the second half well, and once again the

wide players Severa and Rhead were causing problems and with Alex Langridge

starting to come into the game the home side had hopes of a third.  Rory

Maxwell dropped back into Centre Midfield allowing Max Kiddle to get further

forward.  Maxwell and Richards started passing the ball around well and

their understanding and movement allowed them to bring others into the game and

break quickly.  It was the away side that were still having the lion's

share of the ball and for all of their possession Adam Johnson only had two

saves to make in the second half both from distance.  The Bulls head on

the other hand had two very good chances to put the game to bed and should have

done, it just wasn't Alex Langridge's  day in front of goal.  the end

the second half turned into somewhat of a stalemate with both sides equalling

each other out, with Skelham's marshalled defence standing strong to protect

their lead.  The work rate of both sides was terrific and was another

great game for the supporters. 

Marchington Manager Rik Kiddle was delighted after the game and

described his team's performance as 'tremendous'. Chris Richards picked up the

Wilkins and Thompson man of the match award but it was the performance of

Michael Skelham that the manager singled out for praise after such a terrific

display.  Kiddle continued saying "taking six points of Bromley and

knocking them out of the cup is just superb".  Marchington buoyed by their

recent success have back to back fixtures against league leaders Fulford and

Tean next week and must continue their performances to stand a chance of

promotion.