Report

League leaders Scawthorpe were next up to visit ‘The Main’ and after a pretty one sided game the visitors extended their lead at the top by taking home all three points.

This mornings fixture wasn’t the ideal way for Wombwell to try and kick start a surge up the table and from the first whistle Scawthorpe showed why they are currently heading the charts; a patient build up by the visitors saw them complete four or five passes before delivering a cross to the far post that was met by an unmarked striker forcing a good save by Blackburn and a clearance off the line by Camplin. The hosts struggled to get on the ball and seemed to be constantly on the back foot but thanks to some good defending by Cole and Man of the Match Jack Thorpe the score midway through the half was level. It looked a matter of time before the visitors took the lead, for twenty minutes they had Wombwell chasing shadows by playing some nice football and creating chances that forced Blackburn into several good saves and unfortunately for the hosts the pressure finally told after 25 minutes. An attack down the left was halted by Hutton after conceding a free kick, the delivery was a high looping cross into the area which Blackburn looked favourite to collect but his indecision let in a Scawthorpe player who had lost his marker and the ball hit him on the knee before finding the bottom corner, 0-1. The Scorpions were clearly dominant and Wombwell struggled to keep the ball but they battled on and defended quite well against a lively strike pairing and with five minutes left in the half Scawthorpes lead should have been doubled but great defending by Thorpe and a header by Speight off the line kept the Scorpions lead down to one at the break.

A limited squad meant limited options for ‘The Main’ and during half time several players were shuffled around to try and stem the Scawthorpe tide, the changes had a positive effect and Wombwell started to get on the ball more, Outhwaite and White combined well centre field with the latter slipping a pass through for Hutton but alert keeping saw the ball whipped off his toe in the box. Another passage of play started by Hinds led to Speight putting in Hutton on the left side of the area but his shot flew well wide of the mark, ‘The Main’ were now competing in midfield and starting to get their share of the ball but just as they were starting to settle Scawthorpe extended their lead. From a goal kick the visitors kept the ball well and completed several passes before attacking down the left, play was switched infield before a one-two resulted in a cracking finish past Blackburn from eighteen yards. With ten minutes to go Wombwell had claims for a penalty, an attack down the right led to Dyson winning a corner that Hutton swung into the area, as the ball came over White was clearly hauled down by a defender but the incident passed by and the ball was cleared, a couple of minutes later Wombwell breached the Scorpions defence thanks to a pass from Outhwaite that found Dyson wide right, he cut in before pulling the ball back to White but his first time effort on target hit a defender with the keeper beaten. Moments later Wombwell were in again when Hutton found Dyson on the left but as he got a shot away that flew wide he was felled just inside the box which on another day may have resulted in a penalty. The visitors then went on to score a well deserved third goal on the counter attack, a loose pass by Morris was pounced on and an attack down the left commenced with several passes exchanged before a nice piece of skill led to a striker in on goal and with only Blackburn to beat he smashed his shot into the net making the final score Wombwell Main 0 Scawthorpe Scorpions 3.

View from the sidelines

Unfortunately for us we saw a big gulf in class today and truth be told we could have been four or five down at half time if not for some alert defending and several good saves, that said during the second half if things had gone our way in the final third we may have salvaged something but in the end the scoreline was probably a fair result.