The Colls bounced back from Saturday's woes in style with an emphatic victory against Warrington Rylands, a team that had won back-to-back games, keeping clean sheets in both of those fixtures. A spirited Colls performance stopped that run, a performance that started with tenacity from the first minute right up until the very last. The first half was dominated by Colls, a strong, aggressive start set the precedence for what followed. From winning the duels and restricting the opponents to next to nothing, a flurry of chances came from the 25th minute onward. Scott Bakkor gave the Rylands keeper Luke Pilling his first task of the evening from a free kick about 20 yards out. The ball was whipped over the wall and forced a smart stop from the keeper to turn it round the post, the subsequent corner ball was headed just wide by Adam Rooney.
The dominance from set pieces was a theme of the first half, skipper Danny Lafferty had a header saved before Luca Defreitas-Hansen won his aerial battle, the loose ball fell at his feet and his strong effort was blocked by the Rylands defence. Pilling was once again called into action before the first half ended, Bailey Thompson rose highest of all and his header was saved by the scrambling goalkeeper.
The pressure continued early in the second half, as two chances fell to Ben Hardcastle. The first was a shot from the edge of the area fired just wide, the second was a tackle in the penalty area that found itself hitting the underside of the bar onto the goal line before being eventually gathered by Pilling.
The deadlock was eventually broken by Adam Rooney, his first goal at the Skuna for Colls. The constant set piece threat finally paid dividends, Jack Lenehan’s dead ball was fired into the box, Rooney found himself in an acre of space and he deftly nodded the ball into the far post. The result was sealed after substitute Jay Fitzmartin’s relentless pressure was duly rewarded, he managed to tackle Pilling after he attempted to dribble the ball out of his own penalty area leaving Fitzmartin with the easiest of tap ins after loitering on the goal line.
An excellent performance all round, the 2-0 win lifting Colls up to 15th in the table. Attention now turns to a monster clash on the east coast at Morpeth, Brad Cooke’s team will be looking to build on this performance and earn another 3 crucial points. Colls: Nico Defreitas-Hansen, Adam Rooney, Joel Amado, Ollie Brown (70' Arran Pettifer), Danny Lafferty, Luca Defreitas-Hansen, Ben Hardcastle, Jack Lenehan, Scott Bakkor (90' Ethan Kershaw), Bailey Thompson (75' Jay Fitzmartin), Marcus Cusani Match Report: James Thompson Photo: David Featherstone - flic.kr/s/aHBqjArkxg
Match Preview: Morpeth (A)
December 1, 2023
Atherton Collieries head to Morpeth on Saturday 2nd December, aiming to break a duck which has led to the Colls so far never recording a
