Match Report- 28/08/2011 v Bradford Park Avenue (Away)

After a bit of a tough
challenge two days ago, Wibsey now faced their next opponents.
Bradford Park Avenue, the Lions' local rivals, champions of their
league last season, were hoping to get one over on their opponents,
and there was a lot of pride at stake especially from the Buttershaw
School lads.




The game was 9 a side,
as BPA didn't have a full team, which meant the Lions had five subs
to rotate.




It was a wobbly start
for Wibsey, as BPA came out much brighter, however they did little to
trouble the Wibsey goal.




Although Wibsey had the
early chances; Nathan Khan headed over, and Michael Brooksbank had a
couple of shots wide, BPA took the lead after 8 minutes. A corner was
swung in and their midfielder was totally unmarked and fired into the
net. Poor defending from the Lions.




Wibsey's performance
did improve as the game went on, and there were some good attacking
play being created. Josh Thompson came on, and created some crosses
down the right, but the Park Ave defence did well aerially to defend
their goal.





Again Wibsey came close
to scoring, this time Connor headed over the bar, and Michael
Brooksbank and Ryan Archer both put shots wide. The Lions were
scratching their heads in disbelief that they were still trailing
after creating so many chances.




Park Avenue were strong
on the counter attack, and gave the defence; who looked a little
uneasy with only three of them, a very difficult time. However Davis
Peel was doing an excellent job as last defender, to put an end to
most of the BPA attacks.




With 21 minutes gone
Wibsey finally got a well deserved goal. Connor Rhodes took the ball
down the left wing, cut inside and this time struck it perfectly into
the far corner, leaving the goalkeeper with no chance. 1-1.




Half Time- Wibsey 1-1
Park Avenue.




After a bit of a
subdued performance, the Lions looked brighter in the second half.
Michael Brooksbank was doing a fantastic job in the holding midfield
role, and Park Avenue struggled to control the ball in the middle.
Nathan Khan's performance also improved greatly, and he did a great
job of winning the ball in the middle.




However, despite
Wibsey's control of the second half, it was BPA who took the lead
this time, a long range shot caught the Lion's keeper, Matty Hale off
his line, and he was unable to get enough of a hand on the ball to
stop it hitting the back of the net. BPA led again.




Again, Wibsey defended
well, Davis and Damien looking as strong as ever at the back. Ryan
Archer had also returned to the pitch and given Wibsey a bit more
fire-power in the attack. Wibsey continued to push for their
equaliser and 14 minutes into the half they were rewarded. This time,
it was a beautifully struck cross from Mikey Brooksbank, which landed
perfectly for Connor to nod the ball home from the edge of the six
yard box.




Buoyed by their latest
goal, Wibsey wasted no time in scoring again. Ryan Archer raced
through the midfield and slotted a perfectly-timed ball through to
Josh Thompson on the right, who cut in and fired it into the back of
the net. A very well worked goal, and now Wibsey had the lead.




The Park Avenue keeper
did a very good job to deny the Lions more goals. Both Connor, Josh
and Ryan had shots saved. Also Wibsey squandered a few more chances,
Josh cut inside and fired the ball but it whistled past the post, and
Connor Rhodes put the ball over the bar, missing an open net which he
would have normally scored with ease.




Cruelly, Wibsey were
punished for being unable to convert their chances. A BPA corner
curled in, and their striker clearly pushed over Matty Hale, then
nudged the ball into the net. The Lions Keeper was clearly fouled,
but the referee didn't see it. A big disappointment for Wibsey who
had looked much stronger in the second half.




However the Lion's
goal-machine was there to put a final twist in the tale. With only
two minutes to go, Josh fed the ball to Connor Rhodes, and from 20
yards he fired a screamer into the top corner. A fantastic goal from
Rhodes, who had now just sealed his third hatrick in four games,
scoring an incredible 10 goals in pre-season.





Full Time- Wibsey 4-3
Bradford Park Avenue.


Goals


Connor Rhodes (21, 49, 68), Josh Thompson (50)




Man of the Match:

Davis Peel: The new central defender has proved to be a very important addition to the team this season. He did a great job today of mopping up at the back, and considering the defence were a player short, he did a great job of stopping a lot of attacks, especially in the first half.




Manager Comments


I think we were a bit too confident today, we went into the game thinking it would be easy! In the last few games we have worked much harder. We need to put in the same effort and performance regardless of who we are playing. I know that playing 9-a-side didn't help us at all, and we had a lot of subs which kind of messed up our game plan a bit, so I think we can say that might have been one of the reasons for us not playing as well as we could... That being said.. We won the game, and we had a lot of chances, and we were the better team! So well done guys, 3 wins in 3 against our own age-group. Fantastic, and I think we are going to have a very strong team this season, from what I have seen so far! Good stuff boys.. Keep it up