The Eagles ended their three-game losing skid with an impressive attacking performance that included enough goal scoring opportunities to have seen them out of sight by half time. Still, they managed to come through after a tense finish to pick up three vital points which should be enough to guarantee their transferable Step 7 status for next season.
Manager Ash White, with a relatively full squad at the moment, was able to cover the absence of veteran Lenny Jenkins, new signing Tyreece Warren-Wilkinson and wide man Adam Stephenson with the return of George Harrold, Delane Hylton and Jake Ogden.
Despite a typical chilly wind factor swirling around it Eagle Valley was looking an absolute picture in the bright sunshine with the pitch and surrounds in top notch condition. A sight very much for sore eyes after the Arna’s last two away trips!
A fair few hold-ups managed to delay the start of the match until 3.07pm but once under way the Eagles made a bright start attacking the Colin End and got themselves in front after just three minutes.
A free kick chipped into the wind by Cal Jones found George Harrold available at the edge of the Colin area. George promptly slid the ball forward to Toby Francis who after a neat side step appeared to tumble to the ground with both he and Sports keeper Sam Linford grappling for the ball only for it to spin backwards towards goal. The striker was able to recover his balance first and lunged to encourage the ball across the line. Possibly not the most spectacular Toby Francis goal you’ll ever witness but they all count and more importantly the Eagles were ahead.
They most certainly should have been further in front on 13 mins. Francis again was in the thick of the action with his number 20 shirt almost pulled off him by a Sports defender some 35 yards from goal. Still the striker managed to lay off a pass in the direction of the speedy Callum Jones who, having taken the ball past Linford as smooth as silk, only had to slide it into the empty net but somehow managed to find the left hand post instead.
Minutes later and I’m heavily circling the word CHANCE again in my notes! A Delane Hylton throw in from the right made its way via a swift one-two to Jamie Crawford in the box. JC managed to set up Francis who after some lovely close ball control let loose a shot which only just failed to find the target.
Both teams were coping pretty well with the gusting conditions but the wind almost helped the visitors equalise when a long turbo charged bouncing ball completely deceived Eagles keeper Danny Rigley. Rigley had advanced out of his area only to see the ball soar over his head by a foot or so and continue on its trajectory towards goal to be intercepted just in time by an extremely alert Hylton.
As the half progressed Linford in the Sports goal was certainly the busier keeper with Arnold putting together some well worked moves creating decent scoring opportunities for Jones, Francis and Kyme Mason in turn. But at the other end Holbrook were also having their moments and the feeling on the side line was that one goal would more than likely not be enough to win the day.
A first 45 minutes which could have seen a number of goals for the home side ended with another chance sparked by the enterprising Francis. After hotly contesting a high ball in the centre circle Toby battled well to break free from his marker with only a mere half a length of the pitch between him and the Colin goal.
The foot race was on with ball, Francis and central defender in tow. Toby was determined to keep himself ahead whilst the Sports player appeared to be clinging on to a runaway train. The striker finally let loose a fierce shot on goal which Linford did well to parry with the ball squirting free. By the time Jamie Crawford was finally the first fellow yellow shirt to make it to the scene Linford had managed to sufficiently recover both himself and the loose ball.
All in all quite a dramatic end to the half with the ref and Toby blowing for half time leaving the Eagles with just a one goal advantage to show for their efforts.
The second half turned the wind in Arnold’s favour a little and the yellows continued very much on the front foot. After a couple of early corners a long ball from Danny Rigley mixed a pure route one opportunity into proceedings with the mercurial Jake Ogden the next player to touch the ball applying a skilful flush volley at full stretch that brought out another fine save from Linford.
After a tremendous amount of effort up to this point Toby Francis was replaced on 58 mins with Ash White having the luxury of Eagles’ top goal scorer Akeem Campbell on the bench. After a brief scare when Sports sub Ewan Barnes sent in a fizzer flying just above the Colin End bar the Eagles were once again on the offensive.
A ball played from right to left of midfield was perfectly paced for Cal Jones to run onto and after some neat control managed to feed the ball back in towards Gerrard Hallam who allowed it to bounce before launching a half volley from the edge of the area which Linford again did well to save low to his right hand post, pushing the ball away for a corner.
With the pressure sustained for another minute or two a long throw in from the left by Jones was well met by a Jamie Royle back header across the face of the goal where Gerrard Hallam was on hand to thump it home with another well timed volley to give the home side a fully deserved two goal lead on 63 mins.
The cushion allowed Callum Jones to retire from the action still working his way back to full Step 7 fitness to be replaced by Max Elliott who almost got on the end of another fine Arna move just a minute later with the Holbrook defence all over the place.
For all their possession the Eagles still contrived to create a tense finish when skipper Kyme Mason clipped the ankle of a Sports forward on the left side of Arnold’s area providing Ewan Barnes with the opportunity to cut Arnold’s lead in half with a well executed penalty low into the bottom right hand corner with a little over 20 minutes remaining.
Dan Chambers replaced Gerrard Hallam shortly afterwards and once again an Arna sub almost got himself on the score sheet within a minute of arriving on the pitch. After a lovely scorching run by Jake Ogden down the left and a quick interchange with Akeem Campbell the ball was set up perfectly for a Chambers effort which thundered against the right hand post.
Now was the time for Holbrook Sports to press for an equaliser and in truth for the next ten minutes or so the Arnold defence were seeing their first sustained period of action with the Eagles’ slender lead looking more than a little shaky at times.
Keeping a lid on things with around five minutes of normal time remaining Jamie Royle then managed to create a mini storm with a strong tackle of the left side of midfield. A booking was always a possibility but nothing quite warranted the extreme reaction that exploded from the visiting team. In stark contrast a couple of heavy challenges on teenager Max Elliott over the next minute or so when play finally resumed met with the varsity player just getting to his feet, dusting himself down and hobbling on.
With time running out a high ball into Sports’ area was well saved by a second Holbrook keeper with his arms well above his head but no matter the game was finally put to bed a minute or so into added time.
Excellent play by Nicko on the left fed the ball to Elliott who just managed to avoid another sliding scissor like tackle to run on and deliver a perfect ball across the area where Jake Ogden was on hand to apply a terrific finish slamming home his 30th goal for the club. Only the 21st Arnold Town player to reach this landmark since our reformation in 1989!
Well, it all made for quite a rousing finish with yet more to come in this rat-a-tat schedule on Tuesday, 1st April when Mickleover RBL are set to visit the Valley for a 7.45pm kick off.
