Linby returned to winning ways at Church Lane when they beat Teversal Reserves 1-0 this afternoon. Lewis Saxby’s men will be frustrated they didn’t win by more after a dominating but wasteful performance against the young, dogged Teversal team.
It was the away side who started the game quickest with Joseph Geeson forcing two early saves from Linby’s stand in keeper Tom Watts. Linby were soon back in the action though when Steve Johnson-Fikula was able to win a corner after flicking on a Tremere Lindo free-kick.
The resulting set-piece was played to the back post where it was met by Jonathan Jenkinson who was able to get the ball in the back of the net but the home side’s celebrations were soon halted after the linesman flagged for offside.
The home side continued to dominate down the wings through the hard work and pace of Kye Pilmore and Tremere Lindo. They eventually got their reward after 20 minutes when the ball was played down the left wing before being put across for Kye who was able to fire the ball away following a slight deflection.
The sides then traded half chances with Kye attempting a long shot which could only curl into Teversal keeper Daniel Holleworth’s hands before James Summers headed a corner into the ground and out at the front post up the other end.
After the half hour mark Linby started to dominate the chances as they pushed for a second. Captain Aidy Harris was able to win the ball on the edge of the Teversal box but could only fire over before Lewis Weaver used his pace to drive down the left wing and cut inside before firing over when he had options in the centre.
Despite facing heavy pressure Teversal could have got themselves level just before the break. They were twice able to break away from the Linby attacks but on both occasions their attempts were blocked by towering defender Johnson-Fikula who helped the defence to stay strong throughout the game.
The 16 year old took a blow in the process though as early in the second half action had to be halted for a number of minutes whilst Johnson-Fikula received treatment which left him with a bandaged head for the rest of the game.
Teversal’s Reserve side came out better in the second half and they could have been level just after the hour when Jordan Ingram was able to meet a Geeson back-heel but he could only fire his effort over from the right side of the box.
They had their keeper to thank for keeping them in the game just after the hour. Holleworth was able to quickly react to first stop a Aidy Harris effort from close range before then getting to Kye Pilmore’s shot from the rebound.
A minute later, Linby saw a second goal disallowed. A deep ball was played from the left wing to the back post where it was tapped in by Lewis Weaver but yet again the linesman flagged for offside.
Saxby made his first substitute straight after that effort with Matt Murphy replacing Lewis Weaver and the striker got himself straight into the action. He fired a shot from the edge of the box which deflected out for a Linby corner.
Luke Fisher nearly grabbed an equaliser for Teversal with seven minutes remaining but he could only head wide after a cross came in from the right. That was the away side’s last real chance of the game though as Linby controlled posession and were able to see out the game.
After the game Linby manager Lewis Saxby said “I’m obviously happy for the lads to have picked up the three points but I do think it is frustrating that we didn’t get more goals for all the domination we had in that first half spell.” He went on to say “If we had got a more comfortable lead in the first half, the lads might have lost concentration a little bit and we would have lost the clean sheet so at least that tightness made sure concentration levels kept high.
