Linby left it late as they managed to make it back to back wins at Church Lane with an 87th minute winner writes Kieran Booker.
Captain Aidy Harris had opened the scoring for Linby before Chris Jackson rocketed home an underserved equaliser just before the break then just before the end Lewis Weaver was able to snatch a deciding goal despite a lacklustre half for the side.
The first moment of serious threat fell to captain Harris who first attempted to score with a clever back-heeled flick after being played in from the right side by Lewis Weaver and then saw the keeper deflect another shot seconds later in the sequence of play. Seconds later, opposing captain Malaky Eshhelby forced a stretching save from Joshua Downie in the home team’s goal.
The opening goal came just after the half hour mark. Linby, who had just made a forced substitution as Will Horton was replaced by Matt Murphy, were able to react quickly during the re-start to play by quickly taking a throw in down the right side and the substitute was able to play the ball to the back post where captain Aidy Harris was waiting. He was able to flick the ball up, bring it down before turning and firing the ball goal bound.
The home side nearly grabbed an instant second when a corner was played deep to the back post where it was met by the head of Jonathan Jenkinson. The defender forcing a save from goalkeeper Max Danby with his effort.
Linby continued to push for a second with young players Tremere Lindo and Lewis Weaver causing issues on the wings using their pace. Frustratingly for the home side their first half performance didn’t result in more goals and just before half time, Southwell punished them for not taking their chances. The experienced Terry Henshaw fouled Stewart Gill on the edge of the Linby box and defender Chris Jackson was able to smash the resulting free kick straight into the back of Josh Downie’s net.
The away side started the second half better with Reece Campbell forcing a corner from Downie after 53 minutes. His captain Eshhelby then fired over in the aftermath of the set-piece.
Throughout the second half, both sides struggled to create genuine chances with a number of shots from either side flying high and wide and even the efforts on target didn’t seem to trouble the respective keepers.
Josh Downie was forced to push a effort wide from substitute Mark Ballard in Southwell’s best chance before Matt Murphy’s outstretched leg could only knock the ball the wrong side of the post after he connected to Aidy Harris’ ball across box to him in the 82nd minute.
It was the home side who would grab the late winner though when a throw in was brought down in line with the edge of the Southwell box, it was then quickly passed about before being played into Lewis Weaver’s feet. He was able to turn with the ball and curl it to the keeper’s right causing hysteria in the Linby dugout.
That goal led to a nervy last few minutes as the home side tried to retain possession and stop any chance of an equaliser. Southwell managed to get themselves a free kick just outside the box but the effort failed to beat the wall and Linby were able to hold on for another victory at home.
After the game manager Lewis Saxby said “I’m happy to have picked up the 3 points. We have played better this year and lost games. We have spoke about staying in games and giving ourselves the chance because we know we have a chance with the attacking players we have. I’m thrilled to bits to have picked up three wins on the spin but we go again this week and move our focus on to next Saturday.”
