Hall Road 1-2 Nostell Miners
Hall Road Rangers were left to regret missed chances on Saturday as they suffered a 1-2 defeat against Nostell Miners Welfare at Haworth Park. The game started with both sides having half chances. Inside the 1st minute, Nostell blazed an effort over the bar. Meanwhile, a minute later, Chris Spinks sent a set piece delivery into the Nostell box which evaded everyone inside it and went narrowly wide.
Tom Macauley had to get down well in the Rangers goal to produce a good save in the 19th minute in order to prevent Matty Hughes from giving Nostell the lead. A couple of minutes after this, Rangers came close to taking the lead themselves as Joe McFadyen had his header clawed away from goal by Nostell keeper Chris Barrow.
Hall Road created another decent opportunity in the 24th minute as a lovely Chris Spinks pass found Reece Moody who pulled an effort wide. In the 40th minute, Lewis Andrew saw a deflected effort go wide of the Nostell goal.
A half chance fell to Joe McFadyen in the 51st minute. He got on the end of a Chris Spinks free kick and sent a header over the bar.
Nostell went in front in the 64th minute when Harvey Walker got himself on the scoresheet after Tom Macauley saved a Nathan Hawkhead free kick. Four minutes later, a big chance went begging for Hall Road as Joe McFadyen was sent through on goal and his effort was smothered by Chris Barrow.
However, Rangers got back on level terms in the 80th minute courtesy of Jacob Galloway’s 1st goal for the club. Galloway found himself free inside the Nostell box as he met a Chris Spinks corner and headed the ball home.
Parity didn’t last long though as the visitors retook the lead in the 84th minute thanks to a Nathan Hawkhead penalty.
Rangers joint boss Leon Sewell felt that there wasn’t a lot of quality on show throughout the game.
“To be honest, I thought it was quite a poor game. Fair play to Nostell as they’ve come and done a job and taken six points off us so can’t argue too much.
Ultimately, we weren’t at the races today. We just said to the boys that it’s an important time of the season for us given where we’ve come from.
We just need to maintain those levels and find those levels. We were too reactive today.
We didn’t win first balls, we weren’t winning second balls and that allowed Nostell to play on the front foot and they’ve pegged us back and forced errors from us.
It’s a collective performance and I never single anybody out. There were phases of play where the ball could have been cleared and dealt with prior to the Nostell goals.
We’ve been clinical in front of goal the last few weeks and today we haven’t. It’s something that’s just been addressed.
I thought our football that we played in the final third was poor and way off the mark. We didn’t give our dangerous players in Spinksy, Reece, Robbo (when he was on) and Joe McFadyen the service that they deserve.
That’s a bit of a downside to today’s performance. Take those chances in the first half and we’re sat here having a different conversation.
We’ll learn from it. I thought we showed a bit of character to pull back, but then we’ve switched off and we’ve been punished for it.
The law of averages. When you make those mistakes in and around your box, they more than likely end in goals” he said.
Oliver Harsley
