NCEL- Game 29
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11/02/25 - Wombwell Town vs Horbury Town
This could well prove a pivotal game in the title race with Horbury starting the match with a 13 point cushion over second place Wombwell at the top of the table. Extending the lead to 16 points would make it almost impossible to recoup, but a home with would narrow the gap to 10 - with the Wellers holding three games in hand. With so much at stake a frantic opening 45 minutes ensued with not one, but two penalty shouts in the opening few minutes for the visitors. Both Bojang boys, Gibril and Abdou, fell in the box claiming contact with both waved away by referee Megan Wilson. In other matches either could have been given, but not on this big occasion. Horbury's Joe Angell showed he was anything but on seven minutes as a heavy challenge on Jack Dando saw the defensive midfielder shown the first yellow card. Seven minutes later and it was in disbelief that Angell wasn't shown a second yellow for a similar tackle on Niall Smith. Receiving treatment the referee was heard telling the Wombwell bench: "its a yellow if he hasn't already been booked." An incredible statement in a moment that could have changed the game. The battles continued with Jack Wilson taking a knock to the face that gave him a broken nose, but in true Wilson manner he changed his bloodied shirt and played the rest of the game regardless of the pain he must have been in. Footballing wise it was the visitors who had the best of the chances with James Cusworth firing over the crossbar on 20 minutes, before a weak effort on target gave keeper Charlie Dando some work to do seven minutes before the break. The best chance for the Wellers came in added time as a free kick by Owen Sykes dipped towards goal, but still went a good yard over the crossbar. Half Time: 0-0 The second 45 saw a much quieter affair as far as the tackling was concerned, and as a result the Wellers grew steadily into the game as the visitors seemingly ran out of energy or ideas. Just four minutes into the half, after a move down the right by Jason Paling, Eddie Agnew squared the ball to Josh Nodder who put his effort just wide of the right hand post. Agnew became provider again just after the hour mark as he set up Cian Guest (starting his first game since his game-abandoning injury back in October - ironically referred by Miss Wilson), however the midfielder's effort was claimed high by Horbury keeper Paul Hagreen. The momentum in the match had definitely changed to the home team's favour and they capitalised on the state of play on 65 minutes as Nodder slipped the ball into the penalty area to the path of Agnew who made the perfect first time touch to direct the ball past Hagreen and into the bottom left corner. With half moments increasing the tension, solid defending by the Wellers stopped Horbury from finding a way through and on 87 minutes their task became harder as Sam Kyeremeh was sent to the sin bin for calling the referee a cheat. A late corner though put hearts in mouths as the ball couldn't be collected by Dando or cleared fully at the first three attempts. Eventually though the ball was booted to the half way line and away from danger. It was an almost agonising wait for the final whistle with six minutes added on, but finally the game ended and the Wellers narrowed the gap - setting up their final 13 matches for a big finale! Wombwell Town - 1 Eddie Agnew 65 Horbury Town - 0 Attendance: 227
Images from this season can be found on the Gallery page.
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Match Programme
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