Rossington Main 4-2 Ollerton Town
Northern Counties East League (Division One)
Saturday 31st July 2021
A stellar second half performance ensured Rossington Main made a winning start to the new Northern Counties East League (Division One) campaign as Ollerton Town were comfortably brushed aside at Oxford Street.
Paul Sherburn's two strikes proved crucial with Niall Doran and Jack Watson also registering their names on the score-sheet and in all honesty Rossington were such good value for their win that they could have scored several more goals.
Despite Doran's opening goal inside the first quarter-of-an-hour, things initially weren't going to plan for the hosts because Ollerton turned the game on its head and bagged twice courtesy of George Slack and Sam Stretton to lead 2-1 at half-time.
But the visitors were then outplayed, outclassed, outmoved and 'passed off the pitch' in the second half with Watson quickly leveling the scoreline at 2-2 before 'The Sherbinator' took centre stage and demonstrated ruthless execution from two chances which came his way - not bad for a defender!
However, it was one of those occcasions where everyone in a blue shirt produced a good individual showing. The ginger maestro that is Sam Kitchen deservedly scooped the 'Man Of The Match' award for his elegent composure and calmness in the middle of the park whilst Paul Sherburn, Jack Watson, Cameron Barnett and Jordan Buckham deserve equally well-earned mentions for their contributions.
With players such as Leon Osborne, Bailey Conway and Elliott Walker all missing from this game, plus one or two other quality players who've been registered for the season ahead, there is no doubt there is plenty of potential in this Rossington side and they're a force to be reckoned with.
Ben Hunter's team began brightly and saw plenty of the ball to pen Ollerton back, forcing a couple of corners which came to nothing whilst other promising attacks were thwarted by the offside flag - including one where Jamie Green had the ball inside the box courtesy of a great passing interchange. The first shooting opportunity came on 12 minutes when Barnett's driving run resulted in the ball ricocheting kindly in towards Watson whose low drive drew a smart save from visiting 'keeper Levi Owen.
There was a lot of zip and zest in Rozzo's style of play and all they needed was a breakthrough which finally came on the quarter-hour mark following another quality move.
Buckham was the instigator in unlocking Ollerton's backline courtesy of a sumptous 50-yard crossfield ball to the feet of an advancing Sherburn on the right flank. He showed need footwork to easily get the better of his man before moving the ball inside to Doran whose perfectly-executed shot found the target for 1-0.
With the deadlock broken amidst such a positive start to proceedings, you'd have been forgiven for expecting Rossington to go on and put Ollerton to the sword at this point, but that wasn't quite the case as the visitors courageously fought back.
Just seconds after Conner Williamson had been forced to make a vital clearance inside his own box at the expense of a corner, some defensive frailties in the hosts' backline were exposed from the subsequent set-piece with the visitors equalising through George Slack's free header at the far-post following Conor Green's delivery.
In spite of the setback, Main immediately seized the initive again and got back on the front-foot, enjoying lots of possession - looking creative though not necessarilly threatening.
Buckham continued to show a certain class and composure with the manner in which he was popping long-range passes into feet and one such instance, just after the equaliser, saw him release Sherburn who cut inside and unleash a low drive which trickled wide of the left-hand post. Barnett also underpinned his quality in a move where he chested the ball down superbly from Watson's header midway inside Ollerton's half then turned, beat a few defenders and tried his luck with an attempt which went narrowly wide.
Ollerton, top of the table in the East Midlands Counties League before the 2020/21 season was abandoned, were barely able to get out of their own half at times though with the interval approaching they upped the ante; Rozzo 'keeper Kian Johnson enduring one particularly nervous moment when he had to quickly back-peddle to get his hands to a long defensive punt from fully 80 yards which caught the wind and looked as if it might creep over his head.
On 43 minutes, against the run of play, the visitors showed ruthless execution of their own to turn the game on its head and go 2-1 up.
A sustained period of possession inside their counterparts' half was as good as anything they'd enjoyed up to this point and having worked the ball from left to right, a cute low delivery into the six-yard box was met with a deft finish from Sam Stretton to leave Rossington shell-shocked!
It wasn't quite 'panic stations' at this stage but the half-time whistle soon afterwards did provide the hosts with a perfect opportunity to regroup and refocus and they then produced a thoroughly sublime high-energy, high-intensity and high-octane second half display which blew Ollerton to pieces.
The mercurial Sherburn was the architect and Watson the executioner of an uplifting equaliser which came within two minutes of the re-start - the ex-Doncaster Rovers scholar latching on to a delicious pass inside from his team-mate before then arrowing a powerful drive beyond a full-stretch 'keeper to deservedly make it 2-2.
Ollerton must have soon developed a foreboding sense of the inevitable amidst a flurry of quick chances for Rozzo. Doran fired over from distance after a free-kick was played inside before Micah Parsons looked up and unleashed a low 25-yard drive in the next attack which bobbled up and needed to be parried away. Watson's ball across the face of goal only a minute or so later just required a decisive 'killer' connection - had there been any touch, it would more than likely have resulted in another goal.
Nevertheless, the visitors soon almost turned the game on its head once more as they dangerously broke in-behind and squandered a golden chance to re-take the lead. Johnson was quick from his line to read the danger in a one-on-one scenario with Ollerton's forward and pulled off a superb save with his feet - and this key moment proved the game wasn't over!
Hunter's team quickly got back in the ascendency though and before the half-hour mark, Watson superbly managed to spring the offside trap to get his head onto yet another sumptuous cross from Buckham and his goalbound connection drew a magnificent flying and fingertip save by Ollerton's 'keeper.
More pressure soon followed and an intricate exchange saw Watson slip Barnett in-behind. His initial attempt was blocked yet the ball still ricocheted towards Sherburn whose drive across a packed goalmouth somehow, yet again, didn't get a telling connection to carry it goalwards.
Given the way in which Rossington were spraying the ball around with such assuredness - running their more senior counterparts absolutely ragged, it felt theoretically impossible that Ollerton would be able to hold-out against the constant tidal wave of pressure and soon enough, they conceded.
Sherburn created and finished a move to get the goal his performance deserved as he linked up excellently with Watson on the edge of the box following a driving run which had bamboozled visiting defenders back-peddling and falling over. On another occasion his pass to Watson, whose subsequent attempt was blocked, might have been the culmination of the attack but this time the ball dropped fortuitously back towards 'the Sherbinator' and he took a touch and demonstrated ruthless composure with a powerful drive into the net before being mobbed by his delighted team-mates.
With Ollerton being strangled by Rossington's much superior and classy endeavours, it was now time for the hosts to go full-throttle for a fourth goal and completely put the game beyond any doubt.
Conner Williamson doesn't get too many goals but he nearly registered a remarkable one with a fizzing and venomous 30-yard snap-shot which rattled the upright and had the 'keeper completely beaten. Had the ball found the net, the shirt would have no doubt been off in celebration because it was right in the category for a 'Goal of the season' contender. If only!
Ollerton remained barely able to get out of their own half as the intense pressure continued though and the next attack saw Watson's excellent link-up play release an advancing Barnett who burst into the box yet snatched at a shot which didn't trouble the 'keeper.
Watson's all round manner, movement, strength and hold-up play on the frontline was an absolute joy to behold at times and on 79 minutes he produced a deft and classy back-heel lay-off as Sherburn, high up the pitch to suppliment an attack, scored the fourth goal. He also showed brilliant awareness to receive possession following Watson's hard-work before demonstrating an excellent technique and finish - and with the scoreline at 4-2, the visitors knew there would be no way back for them.
The scoreline could even have been extended further during the final 10 minutes as Rossington showed no mercy whatsoever towards the tiring visitors.
An unfortunate touch from Sherburn inside the Ollerton box put paid to an initially hopeful move where he might have been able to bag his hat-trick. Meanwhile, 'Bend it like Barnett' probably won't be released in cinemas anytime soon but the youngster's 25-yard attempt was just as impressive as that bloke who used to play for England, and it was curling into the top corner until it was tipped over in fingertip fashion by the Ollerton 'keeper at the very last moment. Last season's top marksman Tyla Bell, rocking the 'dad bod', was also brought off the bench in the final few minutes and showed a couple of neat touches but no further goals were forthcoming.
Overall, the performance by Rossington was of such a high quality that you can only feel encouraged and hopeful about what might unfold this season.
As stated initially at the top of this piece, no player had a bad game and everyone contributed something in what was a fantastic team performance - whether that be Jamie Green and Paul Sherburn showing the necessary heart and energy to push high up the pitch and cause problems from their wing-back positions, Sam Kitchen and Micah Parsons in midfield - who, respectively, showed quality on the ball and 'ratted' effectively, the quality of balls provided by Jordan Buckham, the hold-up play of Jack Watson, or the way in which Cameron Barnett posed so many problems. Even those who had quieter games in comparison to their team-mates put a good shift in and did what was required of them to ensure it was a very pleasing afternoon's work.
Improvement is still needed in some areas, such as where the two goals were conceded and the fact that a bigger scoreline perhaps should have been racked up. However, the positives totally outweight the negatives and if a similar performance to this is replicated against inferior opponents (because Ollerton actually aren't that bad!) then a monstrous scoreline is going to be racked up at some point.
