Greenwich Avenue has never been a happy hunting ground for the Colls -the Black and Whites previous two visits have ended in 2-1 and 2-0 defeats respectively. On Saturday, Chadwick’s boys travelled down the M1 with hopes of ending the Basford United curse.
Nathan Caine and Lewis Mansell were both sidelined with injuries, Jordan Boon added to the physio’s to-mend list early in the second half. Step up Rio Pemberton who was called upon to start his first ever game in the Northern Premier League.
The Collieries started the game with confidence. Turns and tricks aplenty, the attacking flair and creativity bamboozled the United defence. Despite this, Atherton found it hard to produce a clear-cut chance on goal.
Similar to Tuesday night’s outing in Matlock, Chadwick’s boys were made to rue their lack of end product as the hosts drew first blood with a quite unbelievable solo effort. Colls lost possession deep in the Basford half and found themselves scrambling back. The Amber army lead the forward march and Colls inability to deal with this is a lesson that needs to be learnt, reflected Chadwick in his post-match interview. The ball ultimately fell to Matt Thornhill who rifled an effort into the back of the net.
It became a frustrating game for the Colls, who found themselves chasing Basford’s play. I’m sure the hosts themselves would agree that they didn’t really have to do much to maintain their 1-0 advantage. A tight offside call as Mwiya Malumo was played through could have been the inspiration Atherton needed, but Chadwick addressed Atherton’s rather insipid performance during the half time break.
Malumo, throughout the 90 minutes, had a brilliant game. Injuries meant that Chadwick had to throw him up top on his own but this didn’t stop him from causing the Ambers a headache or two. It was his individual bit of skill that sparked the Colls to life on 60 minutes. The forward dinked the ball past to defenders to reclaim in the penalty area, now one-on-one with the keeper. The 254 in attendance could only watch as the ball tickled past the far post.
Chadwick’s lads were awake, they had fire in their bellies and they wanted something from this game. The Claret and White surge pushed and pushed and were rewarded for their endeavours on the 91st minute. A desperate ball floated into the area, United faces looked to one another, panicked. Josh Soloman-Davies met the ball and tumbled it home to send all with black and white blood running through their veins wild. Basford United hearts broken.
It was another learning curve for the Colls, Manager Chadwick could sense a flatness ahead of kick off and it was that same flatness that hung over this young squad until they were unleashed on the hour mark. It wasn’t pretty, by no means was it perfect, but the character and determination to take something from the game shone through.
This is a relentless league and the summer bank holiday period is always the most intense - Lancaster City await Colls on bank holiday Monday at the Skuna stadium 3pm kick off.
Colls: Nico Defreitas-Hansen, Jack Evans, Josh Askew (Sidi Fofana 66’), Dylan Moonan, Jordan Fagbola ©, Jordan Boon (Josh Solomon-Davies 45+7’), Harvey Gregson, Ben Rydel, Mwiya Malumo, Jordan Scanlon, Rio Pemberton – Sub (Unused): Lewis Mansell.
Colls Man of the Match, sponsored by the Carlisle Colls Branch: Jack Evans, sponsored by Mike Davies.
Report: Zach Pierce
Photo: David Featherstone
