TOP STUFF
King's Lynn 0 Yeltz 1
25 September 2004
The mighty Yeltz are top of the league after a hard fought victory away at King's Lynn. A very early goal from Burgess set us up nicely, but despite being on the defensive for much of the game we held out for the win. Chips and Ham surprisingly lost 5-0 at home to Histon which meant we went above them to lead the league.
I'd just like to add what an excellent job Paul Holleran since he joined us at the end of last season. The difference in team spirit is clear, and is helped by having a settled squad rather than the constant comings and goings of Brendan's time.
It's cup week again this week - first on Tuesday we host Banbury in the B'ham Senior Cup, before travelling to Gainsborough Trinity in the FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round on Saturday. They're in the Conference North, but are down in 15th place so it should be a very interesting game which we must have decent chances to progress.
I must apologise for parts of the site not working properly at present. I'm once again struggling with poor quality hosting, but I'm on the case. I've found work arounds for most things now, so hopefully most things are useable for now.
Match Report from DJ
Halesowen Town: Chris Taylor; Ian Cooper, David Haywood, Nicky Preston, Steven Pope, Dan Jones, Alex Cowley, Jason Moore, Richard Burgess, Lewis Baker, Simon Forsdick. Subs: Stuart Skidmore, Ben Steane, Asa Charlton, Jimmy Haarhoff
Attendance: 802
Halesowen hit the top of the table after grinding out an excellent win in Norfolk with a fine defensive performance and two great saves from experienced goalkeeper Chris Taylor.
Richard Burgess notched the winning goal in only the second minute leaving the Yeltz to resolutely stick to a defensive task for 88 minutes against the manager-less Linnets to seal their third straight away win without conceding a goal. Credit for the goal went to in-form Simon Forsdick who did the ground work by embarking on a mazy run from midfield before releasing the ball for BURGESS to steer the ball past goalkeeper Osbourne.
Inevitably the home side, under caretaker manager former Wolves' striker Robert Taylor, created a lot of pressure in search of a first-half equaliser with Carl Holmes mis-directing a header wide and Danny Bloomfield twice going close.
After the break Halesowen continued to look comfortable in defence with the Kings Lynn forwards becoming increasingly frustrated. The best chance for the hosts fell in the 57th minute when a header from Tony Battersby hit the inside of the post and Jack Defty looked certain to score, but Taylor smothered the ball. Taylor then also foiled Holmes and Defty late on in the game.
Halesowen's late substitution saw the return of Jimmy Haarhoff from injury and he injected some extra pace into the visiting attack. Haarhoff almost made it 2-0 on 82 minutes but he shot weakly at the goalkeeper instead of squaring the ball to the unmarked Jason Moore and Halesowen held out through an extended period of injury-time to record their first ever win at the Walks.