Rossington Main 4-2 Hallam

Rossington Main 4-2 Hallam

Northern Counties East League (Division One)

Saturday 24th October 2020

It's now five matches unbeaten (including four straight wins) for resurgent Rossington Main - their best run of form in over two-and-a-half years, as they came from behind to earn a 4-2 win over Hallam.

Micah Parsons, Jason Stokes, Tyla Bell and Spenser Shepperd grabbed a goal apiece on a soaking wet afternoon at Oxford Street which saw an inexplicably bad referee (not poor, just downright bad) give one of the most bizarre red cards that I've ever witnessed, whilst a former Premier League player also made his first appearance for the hosts.

Although Rozzo stay in fifth spot in the league table, the result means Ben Hunter's team have now scored 23 goals this month - a feat which could quite possibly be a club record whilst competing at Northern Counties East League level.

There were many positives across the pitch; Bailey 'Mascher' Conway delivering yet another decent performance, Jason Stokes underlining his importance with another goal, whilst Callum Fielding also pulled off some important saves at key times to keep Hallam at bay.

The visitors will ultimately reflect on this loss with a mixture of regrets and frustration. Although they controlled the first 45 minutes and seemed in a good position to go on and pick up maximum points at that stage, some poor finishing cost them dearly and they were well-beaten come the final whistle.

As so often seems to be the case, Rossington initially took a while to get going - even though Stokes enjoyed the first opening of the game on 10 minutes when his powerful right-foot shot from the edge of the area drew an equally good save from visiting goalkeeper Dave Reay.

Jack Watson's afternoon then came to a premature end only a couple of minutes later when he went down with a hamstring injury and needed to be replaced by Sheppard.

Sheppard acquitted himself well to the game (and put in a decent individual showing), but Rozzo were penned back by a strong and combative Hallam team who applied plenty of pressure at this point, looked up for it, and eventually took the lead in bizarre fashion. 

Fielding intended to get a move going from the back and rolled the ball out to his nearest defender, Jake Boyd, but a lapse in concentration meant it instead ran straight into the path of an opponent. In a very dangerous position, the grateful Hallam player could hardly believe his luck as he slipped a pass through for Iren Wilson who hit a punishing shot into the bottom-right corner.

The inquest began straight away between Fielding and Boyd - fingers were pointed and different points of vie expressed, but there was no escaping from the fact that it was a complete c*ck up and a poor goal to concede which meant Rossington had plenty of work to do.

Hallam's vocal few fans situated directly behind the goal were quick to hurl p*ss takes in Fielding's direction but they had nothing more to celebrate up to half-time. Despite shading possession and coming close once or twice from set-plays, they weren't able to force home another goal.

The break sparked a momentum shift because Main came out after the re-start looking much more focused and, ultimately, they tore their visitors to bits.

At different points, there were some decent examples of neat passing football - one of which led to the equalising goal within six minutes of the re-start. Sheppard (I think) was put through on goal and unleashed a hard low drive which the 'keeper palmed straight into the path of Parsons, six yards out, to make it 1-1.

It was a deserved equaliser after a bright re-start though it inadvertently sprang Hallam back to life and they dominated the next five minutes or so (albeit with the aid of one or two beneficial refereeing decisions). Having been awarded a free-kick in a dangerous position on the edge of the box, you wouldn't have bet against them regaining the lead and had Fielding not expertly dived to his near-post to tip wide Steven Woolley's goalbound attempt, they would have done so.

They then went close with a Chris Wood header from the subsequent corner but just when Rossington seemed to be living dangerously, it was they who went ahead.

Stokes found himself in acres of space midway inside Hallam's half after a quick and clever ball forward and although the out-rushing 'keeper (with a starting position close to the edge of the box) did his best to make it difficult, the midfielder's lobbed attempt went over him and into the back of the net.

The turnaround was complete but with half-an-hour left, the action was far from finished.

Throughout the game, the referee (whose name is sadly unknown; a huge shame because I'd have loved for this blog post to come up when he next Google's his own name) made a string of perplexing decisions which went against both teams at various points. At no point did he ever demonstrate confidence, nor did he really have a grip on proceedings either. Basically, he just looked incompetent and brandished several yellow cards whilst Hallam's Daniel Paterson (No.7) did his level best to try and run the game instead. 

Having had both benches infuriated at different times - either for letting certain fouls go unpunished or for making downright basic wrong decisions, the official was forced into a huge call when Sheppard burst away down the inside-right channel and drew an untidy challenge on the side-edge of the penalty area.

It was a foul and it was just a case of whether it had been committed inside the box or not. My gut reaction screamed 'penalty' but God forbid the official be melodramatic because he instead went over to his linesman to discuss things, amidst a backdrop of screaming and shouting, and took what seemed an absolute age before eventually (and probably correctly!) pointing to the spot.

Tyla Bell was left with responsibility from 12 yards and like every good, responsible talisman, he remained ice cool under pressure to fire his shot past the 'keeper, make it 3-1, and extend his goalscoring run to three consecutive games.

With around 20 minutes to go, the landmark moment arrived in the career of the evergreen Gary McSheffrey who replaced Bell for his debut in a substitution which consequentially added about two years to the average age of Rozzo's line-up.

The introduction of a former Premier League player was probably the last thing Hallam wanted at this point, though being introduced from the bench is nothing new for the 38-year-old as it was how he made his professional debut for Coventry City way back in February 1999 - a time which is so long ago that Britney's Spears' 'Hit Me Baby One More Time' was top of the charts!

It's fair to say the world has changed quite a bit and a lot has happened in the (many!) years since; for instance, several lads involved in this game hadn't been conceived in 1999 - let alone born, VHS sets were more popular than DVD players back then, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook didn't even exist, Manchester City were competing alongside York and Macclesfield in the old 'Division Two' and, best of all, there's been nearly 5,500 episodes of Coronation Street since his debut at Villa Park during which Gail has seen off four husbands and had as many surnames as Cheryl Tweedy/Cole/Fernandez-Versini/Payne - no wonder she just wants to be known as 'Cheryl' nowadays!

And if that doesn't make him feel old, the fact he's now joined a very small group of footballers to have played in four different decades (and before the age of 40), probably will do!

McSheffrey's no doubt seen several strange things in football but what happened within five minutes of his introduction must rank as being 'up there' with the most bizarre - and, yes, predictably, it involved 'Mr Referee' once again.

Knowing time was against his team, Hallam's 'keeper attempted to re-start play from a goal-kick but it was too early for the referee's liking as he'd just finished unnecessarily 'nit-picking' with another incident. A re-take was ordered before words were exchanged between the pair which culminated in the official strutting over to his linesman and 'sin-binning' him. Reay, the 'keeper, genuinely looked flabbergasted but the ridiculous saga didn't finish there as Hallam's bench began to protest vigorously against the decision - claiming that a goalkeeper can't be put in a 'sin-bin'. The referee though was having none of it and following more heated words on the touchline, he soon upgraded the 'sin-bin' to a red card.

Ultimately, whilst I'm not sure what was or wasn't said, if a player swears at an official (as was claimed in this instance) then he leaves himself open to punishment. Nevertheless, there's so many better ways the referee could have dealt with this situation instead of allowing it to escalate to the point where it turns into a contentious flash-point. Given the referee was useless for both teams for the overwhelming majority of proceedings, it makes it difficult to sympathise with him. A talking down would have been enough. A yellow card would have harsh. A 'sin-bin' and red card was just over the top, not very good officiating, and ridiculous.

Even his linesman, albeit unprofessionally, said so and whilst I personally try and ensure this blog doesn't have a 'bash the officials every week' mentality, the fact is this referee caused his own problems and deserves all the criticism he gets. He's genuinely the worst I've seen this season and I'm sure 99% of people who were in attendance will say this referee had a very poor game.

What the sending off did to the game was confirm for certain that the visitors wouldn't be able to find a way back into it.

Apart from a Hallam header which went over, there wasn't a great deal of action thereafter up until injury-time when Sheppard got inside the box only to be brought down into by the stand-in 'keeper. Again, it looked to be a definite penalty on first-viewing and it was eventually given though not before another long 'consultation process' between the referee and his linesman.

Sheppard stepped up and scored (just!) to make it 4-1, but Hallam went straight down the other end and grabbed and made an instant response. Their goal came about after a nice, neat passing interchange by Rossington in their opponents' half broke down and culminated with Brandon Bradbury unleashing a 20-yard effort which was too accurate for Fielding.

In reflection, this comeback success should give Rozzo plenty of confidence going into their extended break as there's no longer a scheduled fixture next weekend. There's so much to be positive about right now including recent results, team performances, the fluidity of the football on show and, mostly, their position in the NCEL (Division One) table.

Hallam will feel aggrieved at the officials (and it's understandable) though ultimately their own second half performance was the reason why they didn't win - they shipped four goals, lost their composure too many times and didn't put enough of their own openings on target, but they were also being picked apart by a very good footballing team!

I'll end this blog post with a little song to the handful of annoying idiots from Hallam who were dishing out plenty of verbals - especially during the first 45 minutes only to be as quiet as church mice after half-time. 

It goes like this:

'You're not signing anymore...'

'You're not singing anymore...'