Alsager Town 2-0 New Mills
Alsager Town hosted New Mills at Wood Park last night after an impressive start to the season on Saturday, when the Bullets won 3-1 at Winsford United.
There were two changes to the starting lineup, with Alex Hughes and Harry Short replacing Jeanny Leblanc-akpo and Junior Brown, both of whom were on the scoresheet against Winsford.
Alsager were the better side in the first half, tearing through the New Mills defence on counterattacks and capitalising at set pieces.
The Bullets opened the scoring through a Dominic Murphy header from a corner, which was buried into the right corner of the net.
It was also at a set piece that Alsager scored their second, with Alex Hughes firing the ball, once again into the bottom right corner.
The Millers’ defending was frantic at set pieces, with captain Darius Photiou openly berating his teammates, while one of New Mills’s coaches expressed anger at his players for failing to man-mark effectively.
Their only real chance came when attacking midfielder Joshua Abbott blasted the ball over the bar from close range.
Alsager were the threatening team and Ash Leather in particular had a strong performance, beating the New Mills defenders in one v ones and firing crosses into the opposition box.
Half time: Alsager Town 2-0 New Mills
The New Mills players were called onto the pitch early ahead of the second half for urgent discussions. Their coaches told the players they were leaving large gaps and needed to play 10 years further forwards. They were encouraged to not be scared and to ‘play football’.
Their coach said: “Seven of their lads are better than ours, but three of ours are better than theirs,” suggesting that while his side were not the stronger team, they had enough quality to mount a second half comeback.
There was more to be said about refereeing decisions in the latter 45 minutes of the match than there was about the football, as the referee dished out multiple cards and seemed to have lost control of the match.
The biggest incident was when Bullets defender Ashton Brogan saw red for ‘kicking out’ after a duel with a New Mills’s Declan Hacking. While Alsager’s number three did poke his leg towards Hacking whilst getting up, after being wrestled to the ground, the sending off seemed extremely harsh. And it riled up the supporters, who made their feelings known to the referee.
Although New Mills dominated the second half, with Alsager relying on long balls, they failed to convert their chances and did not deserve anything from the game.
Full time: Alsager Town 2-0 New Mills
Alsager’s win saw them move into second place in the NWCFL First Division South, trailing league leaders Cheadle Heath Nomands on goal difference.
They return to action on Saturday, facing Allscott Heath at Wood Park. The match kicks off at 3pm.
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