Despite ending up on the wrong end of a five goal score line against a team pulling out all the stops in an effort to gain promotion to Step 6 there were a heck of a lot of positives for the long suffering Arna faithful to take from this game.

For sustained periods the Eagles were playing with a fluidity rarely seen from an Arnold side in recent times. On this evidence a slight reshuffle following the departure of skipper Adam Clift and one or two fresh faces have served to light a long overdue fire under the team. Midfielder Craig Taylor switched to the vacant central defensive spot with his berth taken by new signing Joe Harrison from AFC Mansfield via a short stop off at Eastwood.

Elsewhere right back Jordon Percival returns for another Arna spell from Bilborough accompanied by fellow Romany Callum Jones who would impress on the left wing when coming on from the bench. The new look line up had looked promising on paper before kick off and with all five subs involved by the end of the ninety minutes the refreshed squad had certainly more than lived up to expectations.

Following a couple of early corners for the visitors the Eagles began to crank up their own game and an early spark was provided by Jordon Percival with 5 mins gone when JP launched a typical long ball from deep on the right perfectly flighted for Tremere Lindo to pounce on and force a brave save from keeper Joe Dunn with his legs. Moments later the same two Eagles combined again. This time JP had himself moved towards the right bi-line before launching a fierce low ball across the Colin End goal which the lunging Lindo just failed to make contact with. 

An early setback arrived on 11 minutes however. A strong Normanton attack through the middle initially seemed to be well marshalled by Taylor retreating into the Arnold box but the ball broke loose once more towards opposing centre forward Josh Parfitt who promptly thumped the ball home to give the visitors the lead.

Images courtesy of Jim Bethell & Arnold Town FC Supporters Club respectively

Arnold reacted well though and continued to press forward with menace and some five minutes later were duly rewarded for their resilience. After another strong move down the right flank Dan Chambers collected the ball deep into the right side of a crowded area, turned and protected it well from the attention of a couple of defenders as he made his way back across goal before firing in an unstoppable shot into the bottom left hand corner to level matters.

With parity restored the Eagles were now fizzing the ball around at will and almost took a deserved lead in dramatic fashion on 22 mins. After swarming around the Colin End penalty area once more the ball bounced up invitingly for Joe Harrison on the edge of the area and his thunderous volley brought about a tremendous save from Dunn who did extremely well to palm the ball over his crossbar. 

After some good defensive work by new skipper Lenny Jenkins calling a holt to a sudden Normanton counter attack the Arna were soon again looking threatening. A pin point thread needle ball by Lewis Neville dissected the visitors’ midfield to spring Lindo for a clear run on goal. Tremere’s shot had the keeper well beaten but sadly struck the post just below the crossbar only to rebound kindly for a fortunate Normo defence. 

Straight down the other end Normanton’s Ty Macaskill relieved the pressure somewhat with a fine run and shot on goal which Piotr Strycharz in the Arna goal did well to parry away for a corner. Moments later the busy Lindo was this time making strides down the left wing for Arnold and his cross come shot was only half saved by the keeper allowing Dan Chambers to take up possession only to see a rather harsh looking yellow card for his efforts.

With 38 minutes on the clock largely against the run of play the Eagles suddenly conceded two quick goals which in the end would effectively undue all their afternoon’s efforts. A shot on Strycharz’s goal from the left saw the keeper make a decent half stop but sadly a swift clearance by his defenders wasn’t forthcoming and Normo’s Reece Shaw took full advantage with a well directed punt into the right hand corner of the net.

A minute later the Arnold defence were completely caught off guard when Josh Scully tore down the right wing with a spare man in the middle to pass to and only one Arnold defender anywhere near the action. Using his mate as a decoy the confident Scully merely let loose with a powerful low drive which flew into the bottom left hand corner to provide the visitors with the softest of two goal cushions. 

Walking off towards the changing rooms the otherwise impressive Eagles could only shake their heads as to how they had managed to find themselves 1-3 down at the break. 

Arnold enjoyed a steady start when play resumed with some early pressure and a Dan Chambers effort from Scully territory which this time flew just wide of the left hand post. Not long afterwards a neat Arnold move flowing from one side of the field to another ended with a somewhat rushed effort by leading scorer Jake Ogden flying well over the Oxton Road cross bar.

Increasingly as the game wore on the visitors, perfectly happy to play to their own physical strengths, were loudly up in arms at any sign of contact from a pesky yellow shirt. Amidst prolonged claims for a foul on Parfitt Arnold proceeded to put together a well worked move which ended with Trem Lindo’s goal bound effort being deflected away for a corner. The resultant flag kick swung over from the right to find Dan Chambers lurking at the back stick to volley home his 15th goal for the club and reduce the arrears.

The volume coming from the side lines only increased around the hour mark when Normanton’s Reece Shaw pulled down Joe Harrison advancing in midfield to receive his second yellow card and subsequent rather soft marching orders. 

Arnold boss Ash White began making use of his strong bench with the introduction of Tyler Cobb and new signing Callum Jones. Wide man Jones was soon making a favourable impression down the left wing and carved out a couple of opportunities to get the Eagles level. On 78 mins the former Bilborough winger ran a full twenty yards down his flank before cutting in and sending in a curled effort at goal which didn’t quite bend sufficiently to trouble the net.

Not long after the Eagles bench was fully emptied Jones was threatening again. This time taking a right turn to run across the face of the penalty area before unleashing a powerful shot which again didn’t miss the target by much to mounting disquiet on the Normanton bench.

Arnold kept up the pressure right to the end but sadly the equaliser just wouldn’t come on a day when the Eagles had more than matched their promotion chasing visitors who had endured a highly challenging 90 mins before adding another three points towards their title quest. 

A finish of low to mid table obscurity for the 2023/24 season it may be for the Arna but if there’s any remote chance of bottling this worthy effort for future use then who knows what could lie ahead?