With the disappointed of last weeks draw behind us and the second of 3 back to back away days upon us we were looking forward to righting the wrongs.

We knew Welbeck were better than there league position suggests as we had got through a tough encounter with them not so long back. The Welbeck management team had obviously remembered how we had played against them in the previous match and managed to stifle our more creative players.

When we did get the ball forward we looked dangerous and if it weren’t for a combination of woeful finishing and poor decision making we could have scored on several occasions. First Chris Pickles set Callum Smith free who scampered past the full back only to misplace his pass. Then Chris set Callum free again and his cross was blocked at the near post. Next Matt Devine released Brad Sykes who after beating 2 just struggled to get the ball out of his feet.

Welbeck then managed to break away and a shot from 20 yards was well saved by Andy.

The resulting corner was collected calmly and Carl Norman, now down the left, was released. He drove at the full back, skipped past him and fired the ball across the box. Any touch would have seen it go in.

Bentley were now getting a lot of joy down the left hand side and when Michael Pashley set Carl free he tried to skip past the full back who conceded a throw. Pashley chucked this into the box and Richard Smith narrowly headed over.

Twice Kyle Bates released first Brad Sykes and then Callum Smith down the right but the half chances just faded out due to us not making the right decisions in promising areas.

Half time came and we were pleased with how the lads had applied themselves. The quality wasn’t they but the conditions and pitch played apart in that. They had however done the dirty stuff well, they had worked, hassled, harried, put there foot in where it hurts and in general built a solid foundation on which they could play. Anyone in football knows you have to earn the right to play the good stuff and given lasts weeks first half non showing we had come a million miles in that department.

With Welbeck crowding the middle of the park out in order to stifle us we changed from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 in order to stretch the play. This worked straight away with Carl Norman having a lot of space and Joy down the left. Bentley had most of the position but there was very little actions to talk about until the 70th minute when the referee awarded Bentley a free kick right on the edge of the box. Brad curled it round the wall and with in destined for the top corner the keeper could only tip it back into play where SMIGGY rose highest to power the ball home 1-0 Colliery.

We continued to push and waste half chances as Welbeck had to commit men forward. But the game just seemed to ebb out after that moment.
On Reflection: We earned the win this week. Yes we got lucky with the free kick but given the amount of bad luck we have had over the season we’ll take it. In truth the lads worked there socks off and given the injuries we have had over the past few weeks we’ll take every point we can.

We’ve not fielded the same 11 in the past 6 games yet only lost once. You find me another side that has managed that!