Relive The Season-December A Month Dominated by Droylsden
By John Taylor
The month began with the long trip to Gillingham where we've done fairly dismally of late. This match was not to see a reversal of that trend. Several team changes were made, but it didn't tighten up a porous defence as we leaked another soft goal after 18 minutes with Miller netting after a Carson parry. Despite our best efforts, we failed to pull it back and the hosts went further ahead on the stroke of half time as the excellent Simon Royce saved from Currie, punted the ball upfield for a knock-on to the suspiciously offside looking Jackson to chip Carson with a well executed shot. Little else was admirable from the home side bar Barry Fuller's attitude of accepting honest challenges like a man rather than a sulky spoilt brat that the rest of the Gills outfield appeared to be. A disconsolate Spireite team trooped off at the break and looked in line for a potential thrashing but came back with considerable resolution. In the end we were a shade unfortunate to lose, as Lester pulled once back and was thwarted by an outstanding Royce save. We ended the game with 6 bookings (so incurring an automatic fine) to the Gills 3 and with considerable aggression from the home fans who, bizarrely, seemed to think we were the dirtiest side to visit Priestfield in years-what a joke. Altogether the afternoon was not a pleasant experience once we'd left the pub. No change there then.
Next up was another aggressive event in the rearrange meeting with Droylsden with an entry fee of just £1 bringing a 5000 plus gate. The first half was fairly lively, but as it wore on, we began to look more confident and dominant with Ward scoring after 31 minutes after an excellent Carson long ball. The Bloods equalised shortly after the resumption with a neat near-post flicked header by Brown from a right wing cross. A period of inconclusive activity and substitutions led up the game's defining moment in the 79th minute. Bloods' striker Lamb appeared injured, so keeper Mawson threw the ball out of play just in the Droylsden half for the forward to receive attention. Once play resumed, everyone expected the usual throw in and a punt upfield for a Droylsden goal kick. It didn't happen though as Ward threw to Lester 35 yards out with his back to goal and the Sheffielder swivelled and chipped the ball, somewhat mischievously, towards Mawson who missed it and it went in the net. Cue mayhem as virtually all the visitors' players and management ran at Lester and the Town bench where fists flew and tempers were severely strained. The only action was a booking for Bloods' second skipper of the night, Steve Halford. A full 3 minutes after Lester's goal, we allowed Halford to walk the ball into our net for an equaliser- the only pragmatic thing to do. That completed the scoring as Kerry missed the best subsequent chance and then Mawson saved well from Ward. What turned out to be a significant occurrence was the booking of Bloods' full back Sean Newton, though at the time it was hardly worthy of mention.
Three days later the Silkmen were in Town for what proved to be a miserable night for Spireites in front of just 2451 spectators. Macc went ahead midway through the first half as Gritton made his way into the box, Page hesitated in dealing with him and the striker curled in a good shot. A couple of minutes later, Kevin Austin gifted the visitors a goal and the wave of negativity flowing round Saltergate was a tangible thing. Another joke goal brought us back in it as Ward seized on a weak back header to score with 7 minutes of the first half remaining. The resumption almost had us level within seconds, but Brain saved well from the lively Ward. Just when we were looking likely to bring the thing back, we conceded again as a ball over the top had Page struggling and Gritton poked past Carson for his second. Twelve minutes later, Lester and Ward interchanged well and the arrears were reduced by a fine Ward strike. Any thoughts of a point, however, soon evaporated as Brain's long upfield ball was flicked on by Gritton for substitute Evans to run on and flick the ball past Carson's poorly timed rush. Worse was to come, however, as late Macc substitute, Francis Green, attacked down the right in injury time, but was flagged offside. For no apparent reason other than he seems unnaturally aggressive, he proceeded to attack Alan Goodall and was duly dismissed. Goodall was similarly treated, seemingly for not being passive enough during the assault. He earned a 4-match ban as a result.
After 3 really negative experiences, the Droylsden replay at the Butcher's Arms needed to be a far more positive thing for the sake of the season as a whole. Mr Richardson surprised many by bringing back Tommy Lee for the soon-to-be-departing Trevor Carson. Goals from Lester and Currie appeared to be making for an extremely rare FA Cup replay victory when amazingly two floodlights went out with 18 minutes left. After much messing about, the game was abandoned.
Nothing to do with us honest
The short trip to Port Vale was next where we'd not tasted league victory since January 1988 with a Kevin Arnott penalty. With 3 suspensions and several injuries, the Town line-up had an unfamiliar look with Hall in the central defence and Picken on the left. After a bright start by Town, Vale gradually worked their way back into the game with skipper Marc Richards being particularly difficult. He hit the bar and forced a fine save by Lee from a close range header. On 41 minutes he did us a massive favour by assaulting Aaron Downes in a weird, unprovoked attack. The referee obviously saw the thing properly as Downes did nothing and so was not even spoken to. Downes then put us ahead early in the second half with a thumping header from a corner. We then kept a clean sheet for only the third time this season to win the thing, though not without several moments of anxiety.
Yet again, the next game was Droylsden and Town did the normal FA Cup replay thing and meekly succumbed to a 2-1 defeat with even our goal being a fluke off Lester's backside. The stand-in skipper also got a deserved straight red late on after being frustrated by both our ineptitude and the close attention of Droylsden defenders. He lashed out and earned himself another Christmas break with a 3-match ban. Again the evening was an unpleasant experience with aggression in the air from many Droylsden followers at the game's conclusion on the back of stone throwing and a miserable defeat. It's on nights like this when you wonder why you bother. So our 13th successive FA Cup replay defeat stretching back to January 1981 saw the opportunity of a trip to Ipswich slip away, or so we thought.
Next morning, rumour began to spread that Sean Newton, scorer of both Bloods' goals, was actually banned following his Saltergate yellow card, and shouldn't have played. Given previous precedents, that would mean Town reinstated and Droylsden thrown out. Droylsden boss Dave Pace made the expected noises, given his previous history over the life of this marathon tie but we all awaited the FA hearing on Monday 29th. Before that we had the 2 Christmas fixtures of Luton at home on Boxing Day and Darlington away on the 28th. The Hatters, unbeaten in 5 games but still in peril with their massive points deduction looked a competent outfit and certainly not lacking in confidence. After about 10 minutes play, the referee decided that Tommy Lee's pale grey jersey was indistinguishable from Luton's white in the strong sun, so the keeper was forced into a change. Oddly, he left his cap off after this and was clearly struggling to see, but fortunately he wasn't embarrassed by the omission before the sun sank. Dan Gray sustained a strange injury by trapping a ball out of play and turning his ankle and was replaced by Austin. A largely forgettable footballing half came to an exciting end when Jamie Ward put us ahead following a flick on by Jamie Lowry, in a striking role, given our lack of options in that area.
The second half saw Craddock level for the visitors on 56 and Mr Richardson then decided to revise things, bringing off Harsley and Currie for Winter and Boden. We looked more comfortable with this, though we had a scare when Craddock went down in the box, but was booked for a dive. Young Boden then gave us a scarcely deserved lead with 8 minutes to go, latching onto Ward's pass and racing clear to score with aplomb for his first senior goal. It proved not to be the winner, however, as we conceded in the 7th minute of 4 minutes injury time from a second successive corner. It somehow had an air of inevitability about it as we continue to let in goals from set pieces.
The Darlington game on an uneven pitch saw Boden make his full debut as the side that finished the Luton game started in the northeast. The game was a stop-start affair with a lot of minor fouls and a lack of continuity. Town came closest to breaking the deadlock when Boden's effort took a deflection off a defender, so beating the keeper, but the ball fell to safety off the bar. Lee made a couple of decent saves after the break, but the game finished goalless; our first such result in 55 games since Darlington away last season.
Monday's FA decision was the obvious one with Town reinstated in the FA Cup at Droylsden's expense whilst the inevitable appeal failed on New Year's Eve, so we start 2009 with our first ever fixture against Ipswich Town. Other off-field stuff saw contractual extensions for Dan Gray, Ben Algar and Scott Boden whilst Trevor Carson was to be recalled by Sunderland in January following a management change. Val Texeira disappeared without making a noticeable contribution and we acquired youngster Lee Askham on a month's loan from Sheffield United.
The highlight of the month is easy this time as, on the pitch, it was a very frustrating time. Downes goal at Vale Park was good, Tommy Lee's seemingly points winning save v Luton was outstanding, but being reinstated in the FA Cup is definitely up there for me as December's highlight. Bring on the Tractor Boys!
