SPONDON ROVERS MATCH REPORT (AWAY FIXTURE)
Codnor completed their 5th winning double of the season in convincing style against their opponents who they beat
11-1 earlier in the season. In today`s boggy conditions the sun came out for the first time in weeks to brighten
up the day. With the boys now in a commanding position we decided to try a new formation of 3-5-2 moving some of
the players into new roles.
From the start of the game both sides took time to settle but it was Codnor who created
the first of the chances as R.Burke cracked in a shot which stung the rovers keepers hands but he was able to gather
the ball at the second attempt. Codnor looked dangerous in their oppositions half and Spondon`s attack`s were
limited due to the boys defence winning their battles, Codnor finally settled into their rythem inside 15 minutes
and opened the scoring when a poor goal-kick was picked up by T.Childs outside the 18 yard box and he used his
pace to gat past his marker before unleashing a bullet of a shot which the Spondon keeper managed to get part of
his hand to but couldn`t stop the ball from hitting the back of the net to make the score line 1-0. Codnor kept
trying to create more chances and from an excellent cross from a free kick J.Griffiths got his head to the ball
but unfortunately his header went a yard past the upright, if the goal had been scored it would have a contender
for the goal of the season, the boys second goal finally came minutes later as a J.Griffiths shot bounced across
the goal off the post landing in the path of J.Miles who had a simple opportunity to slot the ball home from ten
yards out and the boys went in 2-0 at half time.
Two substitutes were made at the interval and Codnor began to
look more threatening in front of goal and they increased their lead to 3-0 when R.Burke raced past his marker
before laying an accurate pass inside the box to J.Miles and he tucked away the chance superbly inside 10minutes
of the second half, Codnor were now taking control of the game and increased their lead shortly after when
M.Housley ran onto a through ball from T.Richardson and squared his pass to J.Miles who shot the ball home
to make it 4-0 to the boys. Codnor stretched their lead further to 5-0 when F.Kirk got to the byline and his
pinpoint cross picked out the on fire J.Miles for his fourth goal of the game whilst in his new role as one
of the strikers. Spondon never really looked liked getting many chances on goal but did manage to pull a goal
back to make it 5-1 but the goal should not of been given as when the ball was played through the Spondon
player was in an offside position, Codnor bounced back straight away when R.Burke went on another run getting
past the defender before playing F.Kirk in for Codnor`s 6th goal taking them into a 6-1 lead. An incident between
Codnor`s L.Wilson and a Spondon player had to be dealt with by the referee and L.Wilson did an excellent job
of refraining himself by not retaliating and did everything he was asked and he punished Spondon minutes later
after picking the ball up from a throw and beating two defenders to get inside the 18 yard area he thought
about making a cross but just as he was about to do so he saw a gap between the keeper and the inside post
and decided to take his chance with a shot which was inch perfect and extended the boys lead to 7-1 it was
his just desserts for the way he had responded. With only minutes remaining Spondon scored a second goal
from the penalty spot as the referee had adjudged one of Codnor`s defenders to have fouled a Spondon attacker
inside the area, it was unfortunately the referee`s second poor decision of the game which went against the boys
but there also should have been two yellow shown to two Spondon players one for intent and the other for deliberate
handball when Codnor`s T.Childs would have been clean through on goal, but the main thing was that the boys had
won in pretty convincing style and extended their winning run to 14 games and with their two nearest rivals
ADASC and Alestree both losing their respective games the boys are now ever closer to clinching the league title.