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Following last weeks long, long journey to Burscough with a bare eleven players it was a refreshing change to have another long, long trip this time to Croston Sports with another bare eleven; this time though we returned triumphant and to cap that off we even had sandwiches after the match (oh happy days). Now after such a vital win and a good performance to boot I don’t want to harp on too much about the hospitality but this was the first time this season someone had actually returned our first class hospitality. It wasn’t too long ago when we were presented with dead rats and pints of urine and with the season coming to an end we were wondering when someone would treat us. So thank you very much Croston for the sandwiches, crisps, sausage rolls and kit kats which I was reliably told by Mrs H was in fact my Sunday dinner.
Mark was unable to make the trip as he embarked on the biggest football match to be played in the East Lancashire region this weekend, Burnley v Blackburn. After losing their Messiah, Owen Coyle, earlier this season Burnley chose wisely for his replacement with the charismatic Brian Laws. A perfect appointment as Mr Laws is very experienced in managing struggling Championship teams. Talking of championship teams, Blackpool kept their promotion dreams alive with yet another emphatic win, this time over a much improved Plymouth, Blackpool are definitely a club on the up.
It was another late start for the Thornton players, which in hindsight was a good thing with the clocks going forward the previous night. We could only muster up eleven players at midday so god knows how many we would have had if we were playing at 11am. Croston had switched the game to a 2pm kick off with their pitch apparently being in a right mess following the hour long downpour last Tuesday! On arrival at the Thornton clubhouse we were greeted by Mrs Helen Lambe, who I might add was looking very young and attractive (she says she reads my match reports so I have to be nice to my reader). Helen was there to watch her husband’s team who seemed to have shrunk since I last saw them, apparently they used to be Under 18s but now they have been down graded to Under 16s (bizarre). So anyway we set off at 12.15pm only to grind to a halt three minutes later as we had run out of fuel. Someone had failed to fill the mini bus up. A few moments of blaspheming later Bob pointed out the last team to use the minibus was in fact us (doh!). Thank god for Sat Navs as it took us straight to Croston which is more than can be said of our supporters coach driven by Lord Fox. He had circumnavigated Croston five times before finding the pitch. However, he was severely handicapped as he was only armed with two things, woman and map, not an ideal combination.
We arrived in good time, unlike last week and the alternative pitch was looking fantastic. To our horror this was the pitch we should have played on and we were re-directed to another pitch. That pitch was not fantastic I might add. Luckily the South African Referee declared it playable but then again he could have declared it unplayable as I hadn’t got a clue what he said. More drama followed as Bob suddenly got a dose of “Bad Back” and could not run the line. The flag was presented to me and I passed my William Hills pen onto Mrs Fox who was promoted to Junior Reporter. Talking of “doses”, if I was Tom Parkin I would be down to the clinic pretty sharpish after telling us what infamous Night Club he rolled out of at 6.30am this morning.
According to the notes the opposition Coach was very pleasant (charming). The game started at a frantic pace on a small pitch with Thornton looking very good against older opposition. Tom filled the vacant centre midfield spot with Joe and both of them were more of a match for the home side. Liam looked like he was back to top form running the Croston defence ragged with his intelligent play. According to the notes there was only one player on the pitch, Matthew Fox! Only joking, Matthew did put in a couple of crunching tackles in and was having his usual solid game. I did make a few sneaky notes of my own and made this comment about him “needs haircut”. For the first time for quite a while the forward play of Thornton was exceptional with some great interchanging and snap shooting. Croston tried their luck with a forty yarder which sailed over Billy’s bar. The Thornton defence “stubbed” out Crostons attacking intentions and Billy was kept quiet. Thornton opened the scoring on 16 minutes and it came from an unlikely source. Tom floated over a free kick and Joe, probably the smallest player on the pitch, climbed highest to head the ball over the keeper into an empty net. His third goal of the season and all with his head. Jay whipped over a wicked corner which Joe headed into the path of Liam but his shot went just passed the post.
Croston only sporadically threatened as Thornton were superior in all areas. Foxy’s throws were causing panic in the Croston defence with the large home support commenting what an impressive weapon it is! (Mrs Fox has actually wrote this down). Jay and Liam were linking up well on the right trading passes and bamboozling the Croston back line. At the other end Croston nearly scored with a deflected shot. James cleared the ball but it ricocheted off a forward and Billy had to make a sharp save onto his post. Mrs Fox has made several comments (35 to precise) of “good battling” and she was not wrong. Thornton were giving their all. Last week Thornton were beaten mainly due to a very dodgy penalty decision and this week Thornton had the most nailed on penalty turned down. Tom sent in a delightful cross and Ben met it perfectly only to be rugby tackled to floor. The South African official obviously thought he was refereeing a rugby game and deemed it legal. The half ended with Thornton putting in a great shift and leading 1-0.
Liam Macdonald worked a great opening but shot over just after the break as Thornton began strongly. However, Croston came back at them and were a more determined outfit. They put the away side on the back foot and Thornton were losing control. Sam Johnson was in sparkling form in the back line but for the second week running we had a player leave the pitch with a bloody nose with Sam going off. In the three minutes that Sam was off Croston scored. A Croston player was left unmarked in the gap left by Sam and he coolly swept the ball passed Billy. Croston were now dominating and Thornton looked a shadow of the first half. Billy was now more in the action and he pulled off a stunning save to tip the ball over. Tiredness was obviously a massive factor with all the effort they had put in in the first half and to be honest they seemed to be only one winner from now on and that was Croston. Completely out of the blue Thornton scored. Jay beat his man on the wing and whipped in a magnificent cross to Liam who smacked the ball first time into the corner of the net.
Thornton had weathered the storm and came back strongly. Ben had got his second wind and was working wonders down the wing ably assisted by James at left back. They should have swapped at half time but both were excelling in the respective positions. I know we are only at an amateur level but the crowd rose to a man when they applauded a piece of professionalism. The ball was played over the Thornton defence but a Croston player strayed a yard offside, with poise and precision the flag was raised in perfect harmony, remarkably for the first time today, by me (which is more than can be said by my counterpart). A Foxy throw was once again met by the head of Joe but it was brilliantly tipped over by the Croston keeper. Croston were increasingly looking jaded but they were gifted the equaliser. Thornton lost the ball from a good position and Croston swiftly broke forward and scored with virtually an identical goal as their first with seven minutes remaining. This game could have gone either way with Thornton looking shattered but still keeping the ball well. Joe yet again headed a Foxy throw goalwards but this time it was inches over and at the other end Sam was steaming into tackles as though his life depended on it. The clock was ticking towards the 90th minute mark when Thornton scored a quite stunning winning goal. Brilliant skill on the wing saw the ball fed through to Liam. He drew the keeper and slotted the ball under him for a breathtaking winner. Croston were gifted a free kick 30 yards out, then 25 yards then back to 30 yards thanks to the Referee. The ball struck the wall and was cleared which resulted with the Referee blowing time on a fantastic victory for Thornton.
This was the perfect tonic for league leaders Thornton with a pack of clubs poised to take over top spot with an abundance of games in hand over them. The jubilation at the final whistle was more of relief as it has been quite a long time since we won a game. Every player gave his all, especially in the first half but tiredness/fitness was a major factor in the second. So training is back on this Wednesday at the clubhouse 6pm (that saves me text).
Now this is a true story. My daughter has just told me that Paul Hughes is on Channel Four, so I eagerly turned over and to my horror it was “Embarrassing Bodies”, and strewth it was small. However, to my relief the programme I should be watching is “Come Dine With Me” which is on next week.
Man of the Match – I’ve not much room so apologies to Liam who today was quite simply brilliant today. Well done Liam ;)
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