Rossington Main 4-1 Glasshoughton Welfare

Rossington Main 4-1 Glasshoughton Welfare
Northern Counties East League (Division One)
Tuesday 13th October 2020

After decent, back-to-back performances which weren't quite enough to pick up three points, this was another positive team showing by Rossington Main who put Glasshoughton Welfare to the sword to emerge as 4-1 winners.

Things weren't quite straightforward; the visitors belied their early-season position in the table by scoring the opener and were actually the better team for the first half-an-hour or so.

Nevertheless, Rozzo, inspired by skipper Jason Stokes, improved sufficiently as the game wore on and levelled through a captain's goal prior to half-time before two Jordan Buckham strikes after the re-start and a composed finish by Jack Watson proved enough to be triumphant.

The hosts now find themselves in the top half of the NCEL (Division One) table having taken eight points from seven games and travel to East Hull on Saturday.

On a mild evening under the Oxford Street floodlights, Glasshoughton donned a green and white hooped strip (very similar to Celtic) and put a home defence including the young Bobby Faulker, who was back in the starting line-up, under a fair amount of pressure during the early exchanges.

Two openings came Rossington's way though with Buckham hammering a shot into the side-netting from a tight angle just past the quarter-hour mark, whilst Watson went even closer only a few minutes later with a curling 20-yard strike that came back off the 'keepers left-hand post.

The first goal then arrived for the visitors on 21 minutes.

Buckham's ball down the line from his left-back berth quickly came back in his direction and needed to be put out of play by Faulkner at the expense of a throw-in - simply because Glasshoughton won both the initial header and the second ball much too easily. The subsequent long-throw delivery towards the near-post was flicked on across the goalmouth towards Sam Nelson who converted from point-blank range to make it 1-0 with 'keeper Callum Fielding unable to get near it.

Conceding the opening goal brought about to a much-needed change in shape for Rozzo to better combat their opponents' play with Elliott Walker switching from his usual right-back slot to a driving midfield role - a position in which he ultimately flourished.

Frustrated up to this point, the team in blue slowly improved and got back on level terms on the half-hour mark when Micah Parsons and Watson combined before Jason Stokes collected possession and curled a low shot into the bottom-right corner.

It proved to be the catalyst for better things and Parsons was at it again with some fine link-up play, five minutes before the interval, when his pass released the accelerating Watson who flashed a shot across goal though it wasn't quite accurate enough to find the target.

Glasshoughton forced another save out of Fielding in the few minutes immediately prior to half-time as Rozzo successfully held firm under some more pressure.

Whilst the first half was sometimes frustrating given that it took the hosts some time to get their game together, the second period was a superb showing of clinical, ruthless and aggressive attacking play to which Glasshoughton had no answer whatsoever.

Buckham became the 'star of the show' - and seemingly wanted to create his own 'Goal of the Month' competition as he bagged two screamers before the hour mark to put Rossington in a commanding position which they never looked as if they'd relinquish.

His first goal, on 48 minutes, was an exquisite strike and it came about after he received possession high up on the left flank, looked up and let fly with a rasping 20-yard effort from the edge of the area which sailed past the helpless 'keeper, who was soon bamboozled again - this time with a low shot from a more central position which found the bottom corner.

A two-goal lead then became an impressive three-goal cushion on 73 minutes when the two former Doncaster Rovers scholars on the pitch combined. Walker put the icing on his midfield cameo with a precise through ball towards Watson who'd slipped in-behind and the frontman made no mistake in seizing the moment to get his name on the score-sheet.

Glasshoughton were now resigned to defeat (and their heaviest of the season to date) and they were clearly getting rattled during the final quarter-of-an-hour of proceedings.

The hosts introduced a couple of substitutes including Bailey 'Mascher' Conway and then Cammy Barnett who made an impact - though not quite in the way he'd hoped, as he was dismissed for an off-the-ball incident just eight minutes after his introduction.

It didn't matter too much though because the scoreline said it all; a 4-1 win and three points to match what was another positive, progressive performance. If the lads can continue in the same vein over the next few weeks where games are set to come thick and fast, they'll have a good chance of putting many more points on the board.