Atherton Collieries somehow succumbed to an incredibly resilient ten man Kidsgrove Athletic outfit.
The green clad Colls men started with good intent and it was no surprise when they opened the scoring on the fifteen minute mark. Aaron Dwyer wriggled clear and squeezed the ball home from an acute angle. It was his eighth notch of an increasingly fruitful campaign.
The home side were struggling to get any foothold in the game and their frustration
boiled over when skipper was given a second caution for an over zealous challenge ten yards in opposition territory. They had to play a man shy for a full hour.
Matt Bryan might have doubled the advantage when he raced clear only to put his cross shot narrowly wide as ‘grove glovesman Kieran Harrison watched on helplessly. Five minutes later, in the second minute of added time the hosts were back on parity.
A nothing free kick was conceded midway in the Colls half. The ball was accurately punted to Matt Rhead at the far post and he did what does best. His header arrowed into the far corner of the net for the totally against the run play equaliser. Matt doesn’t look like your typical modern day footballer but what a player. Both managers’ half time team talks had changed in an instant.
Michael Clegg’s team continued to hog the ball after the interval but their depleted opponents were well up for their rearguard action. Dwyer was foiled on a couple of occasions after good Kielen Adams work and then came the sixty-fifth minute hammer blow. Kyle Diskin’s edge of the box free-kick struck the wall and the spun violently into the opposite side of the net. Sol Honor could only look on mesmerised.
Colls turned it up another level and surely at least a leveller would come? There was a siege on Harrison’s goal but his defenders were inspired. Colls were frustrated time and time again and when they got shots on target Harrison was more than equal to it. In the dying embers, he expertly foiled Liam Sheppard from close range and when Adams acrobatically volleyed over it was time up.
Upon reflection, Colls played decently and in other games would surely have taken a maximum return for their efforts. Kidsgrove thwarted them totally and set pieces enabled them to take the honours smash and grab style. That’s football, frustrating and exhilarating at the same time.
On Tuesday, it’s a return to the Dreams2Reality Competitions Stadium for the first time in a month. Wythenshawe visit for a Pitching In Division 1 West ‘6 pointer’. KO 7.45pm
