Report

Following a poor performance all round against Cononley Reserves, Grindleton travelled to deepest darkest West Yorkshire to face Oxenhope reserves. If Grindleton had any hopes of winning the league 3 points today was an absolute must, and in very wet conditions and on a pitch with a slope like Pendle hill this really was going to be a game of two halves.

Bernard the Tinkerman opted for a 4-4-2 formation and after a vote it was decided to defend the hill if we won the toss, which was a waste of time because we lost the toss and Oxenhope opted to defend the hill. Grindleton started brightly and pinned Oxenhope back and opened the scoring when a weak shot from Brunker somehow looped over the keeper in to he net, 1-0 Grindleton.

The pitch was very wet and soon started to churn up in the bottom half. Grindleton struggled to get the ball down and pass it and Oxenhope to their credit defended well. A long boot forward from the Oxenhope defence caught the Grindelton back four flat footed and, despite the claims of the striker being 10 yards offside, he charged in on goal and finished neatly, 1-1.  The rest of the half was pretty poor with Grindleton failing to use the slope to their advantage and with Oxenhope using the speed of their front man to try and catch Grindleton on the break. Grindleton picked up two cheap bookings for Mayoh and Kilmister for having the cheek to talk on the pitch.

The second half was a completely different game. Despite the slope, Grindleton dominated from the off with the top half of the pitch being in much better condition allowing Grindleton to play their favoured passing game. Brunker, Mayoh, Hodgson and Parkington soon began to make headway with some nice passing moves and link up with the front two of Ryan and Zulfi.

Completely against the run of play a counter attack by Oxenhope resulted in a deflected shot looping over the stranded Devine leaving Grindleton 2-1 down despite having the majority of the position. However from the kick off Grindleton stuck to their guns and were virtually camped in the Oxenhope half, within Oxenhope struggling to even get near the ball let alone in the game. A nice pass through to Ryan allowed the striker to use his speed to slot home Grindeltons second to bring the sides level.

Grindleton were soon 3-2 up when a lovely shot from just inside the area by Zulfi flew in to the top corner. Grindleton continued to press forward with their backline of Kilmister, Rawlinson, Bridgeman and Williams holding strong, and when Oxenhope did attack the ball was soon won back with the defence cooling passing the ball up the pitch and out of danger. The fourth soon came when from a cross Ryan won the ball in the six yard box and coolly slotted home passed the stranded keeper and defenders on the line. The tinkerman threw on Ball for Mayoh, Hinckley for Ryan and Christian for Hodgson with 15 minutes to go and Grindleton continued to press forward. The final goal came five minutes from time when after a decent passing move ended with a cool and clinical finish by parkington as he lifter and curled the ball in to the back of the net. A great win on a rubbish pitch. Grindleton have another long away day next weekend against Bingley Town, weather permitting!