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Sidley win topsy-turvy goal-fest

Hollington United II 3 - 4 Sidley United - ESFL Division One

A patched up Sidley United came out on top of this extremely lively encounter to take the points and strenghten their grip on fourth place.

Blues started strongly and took the lead on 6 minutes after a defensive mix up allowed James Bailey to take the ball past the goalkeeper and slot home. One became two on 16 minutes as two Hollington defenders went to head the ball and allowed Keith Miles a one on one and he lobbed the goalkeeper nicely to put Sidley 2 up.

Hollington responded with an excellent goal from Mark Larkin, who turned and fired an excellent shot into the far corner off the post. With that the tide turned somewhat and Hollington had more of the ball. Sidley did have a penalty shout though as Rose beat the onrushing goalkeeper to the ball. The goalkeeper made contact with Rose, who stayed on his feet and eventually won a corner.

However, Sidley were losing some of the middle ground and Hollington brought the scores level right at the end of the half. A corner from the right was headed goalward and Skelton tipped the ball onto the bar but the rebound was smashed home with Adam Skelton given no chance.

Sidley had to make a change at the start of the second half as Ryan Foord replaced Mark Chandler who suffered an injury. Hollington remained in the ascendency and scored a third goal on 60 minutes as a low shot was spilled by Skelton and the Hollington forward beat him to the loose ball to turn it home.

At that point, Sidley appeared to be struggling to contain the home side but they showed great character and turned the match around. First an excellent strike from Aaron Cochrane from outside the area thundered into the net on 67 minutes to make the scores 3 - 3.

And Sidley went ahead again on 72 minutes as a ball over the top found Kevin Rose and his first time lobbed finish beat the goalkeeper to make it 4 - 3. The ball over the top to Bailey was always on and Sidley always looked threatening coming forward.

Sidley had to dig deep to hold onto this result as both sides had chances but they did hold on to take the three points. Aside from a 30 minute spell in the middle of the match, Sidley played very well and scored some excellent goals. Special mention to Ryan Foord who did very well in the second half when coming on as a sub.

Sidley team: Skelton, McGuigan, Spice, Chandler (Foord), Carroll, Walker, Bailey, Briscoe, Cochrane, Miles, Rose.

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