Match Report: South Normanton Ath. 2 – 1 Arnold Town

Saturday April 6

With Lees Lane beaten by the weather promotion chasing South Normanton had hired out the 3G facility at Eastwood’s Coronation Park bringing about a return to a former Notts stomping ground for the usually Derby bound Eagles.

Arnold fielded relatively few changes from the narrow midweek home defeat at the hands of Derby SB. Leading goal scorer Jake Ogden returned to the starting line-up replacing the guest staring striker Kieran Wells whilst on the bench the maroons welcomed back Billy Bradley and Callum Jones who took their seats beside new signings Curtis Rigby and Ryan Koral.

In blustery but sunny conditions and after a first minute corner forced by the Eagles the game exploded into life early doors when a ball through the middle of the park was latched onto superbly by Tremere Lindo who was then yanked to the floor a couple of yards shy of the box by an obvious pull on his shirt. How the referee failed to see this and more to the point his hapless assistant who was bang in line with the action is a complete mystery which only served to keep South Normanton with all eleven men on the pitch.

As it happened the ball continued its run into the area with Dan Chambers hot on it’s heels before the Arna striker was felled by a clumsy tackle leaving the referee no other option than to point to the spot. Unfortunately for the “visitors” Dan proceeded to miss both his initial spot kick and the second he was invited to take after the Normo keeper Charlie Clayton had moved off his line. The fact that he then proceeded to save Dan’s second attempt from under the striker’s nose was presumably allowed to stand because ….well….no one gets given a third go do they!

All in all it was massive let off for Normanton who were clearly rattled by Arnold’s forceful start and indeed the Eagles pretty much maintained their early momentum for the next fifteen minutes or so led for the most part by some energetic forward play by Lindo.

On 13 mins good work by Trem released Jake Ogden down the left flank from where Oggy cut inside to open up space for a shot on goal which sadly lacked any power to trouble Clayton. Out on the right winger Eddie Morgan was also making early headway and his run on 19 mins cut through the Normo defence before delivering a ball into the area for Lindo whose low drive wasn’t too far shy of the target. 

Around the twenty minute mark however South Normanton began to crank up their game and there were loud roars for a penalty when one of their number had his short pulled in the Arnold box. Clearly they had completely forgotten this ref’s amnesty regarding such things!

However, it proved a temporary reprieve for the Eagles as minutes later a swift Normo attack down the right ended with a dangerous ball into the box which was volleyed strongly at Strycharz’s goal with the keeper managing to parry it away at point blank range. The loose ball was contested on its way out though with a Normanton player brought to the ground and the ref pointing to the spot. 

With Piotr no doubt playing to the rules and staying on his line Normanton’s Josh Scully drove the ball confidently into the net to give the “home” side a lead which frankly their play up to this point had barely deserved. 

The goal certainly seemed to put Arnold back into their shell somewhat and they were reduced to a couple of half chances for Lindo and Oggy as the match entered into a quiet period before Normanton again took control of things as we moved towards the break.  

A strong run down the left by Normo’s Josh Parfitt on 37 mins gave the centre forward an opportunity to send in a dangerous cross which the Arna defence failed to clear before it made its way to Elliott Bland at the back post area where he had the fairly straight forward task of slamming the ball into the net to provide his side with a two goal cushion. 

In the remaining minutes of the half it was Normanton on the offensive with the Arnold defence and Strycharz working hard to limit the damage as the game threatened run away from them. At this point only the most optimistic of Arna supporters (and we don’t possess too many) would have predicted that it would be their opponents clinging on for dear life come the end of ninety minutes. 

The second half began with another quiet period which in itself represented something on an achievement for the Eagles. Minutes before the hour mark Jake Ogden’s return to the side was cut short to be replaced by Callum Jones. The game continued to meander along with Arnold making two further substitutions on 68 mins bringing on Billy Bradley for Eddie Morgan and debutant Curtis Rigby for Lewis Neville. 

Still things were fairly quiet but we couldn’t help noticing that possession wise Arnold were slowly getting on top with any attempts to play the ball around the park left to the Eagles to perform. The other thing that was soon becoming clear was that in the fairly substantial shape of Curtis Rigby the Arna had suddenly gained a strong mobile focus point for their forward play.

In short for the remaining quarter of an hour or so we had an entirely different game on our hands. Meanwhile Tremere Lindo’s effort throughout the afternoon had not diminished and he began the charge on 76 mins with a speculative long range effort from the right wing which with the help of the swirling wind managed to give Normo keeper Clayton the chance to make a pretty good save from underneath his crossbar. 

Moments later the Normo defence gathered around Rigby in their area as the new Arna striker turned them one way then another before seeing his close range effort blocked off for a corner as the maroons suddenly were playing with a new lease of life. 

The action was all at one end now and another corner on 80 mins came in high into the box for Rigby to head towards goal. The ball was somehow battered away but fell to the feet of Dan Chambers who gleefully rammed it into the roof of the net to really send Normanton into shock mode which basically consisted of attempting to waste time at every available opportunity with the previous multi ball system suddenly disappearing from Coronation Park. 

It was real backs to the wall stuff for the “home” side now but Arnold still managed to create that one more chance which should have brought them a deserved point. A throw out by Styrcharz found Lindo in space deep on the left flank. Trem looked up and proceeded to float up a peach of a pass some twenty yards into the path of Rigby who had timed his run through the defence to perfection. With defenders in tow the striker tore into the box before releasing his low shot at goal which went agonisingly wide of the left hand post with Clayton doing well to narrow the angle.

So, for the second time this season the Eagles had well and truly let Athletic off the hook. Left with nothing for their efforts however the Arna didn’t have far to look for some form of compensation in defeat. He was stood there as large as life in the oversized shirt our tireless kit-lady lovingly provides…..we can only hope that the talented Mr Rigby is not one of the many here today gone tomorrow signings we’ve seen coming through the Eagles A – Z in recent years!