Maltby Main 3-0 Rossington Main

Maltby Main 3-0 Rossington Main

Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup Second Round

Wednesday 16th November 2022

The Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup dream is over for another year for Rossington Main after they were comfortably beaten by local rivals Maltby Main in this midweek fixture under the floodlights at Muglet Lane.

Things were very straightforward for Maltby, who play in the league above Rozzo, and they always looked in command, in control and just simply the better of the two teams.

Clinical up top and solid at the back, Aaron Sennett-Neilson’s early header put them ahead and soon enough they doubled their advantage thanks to Alister Haydock’s looping shot which found the net via the underside of the crossbar. 

Haydock then wrapped things up shortly after half-time when he got the ball just inside the box and drilled it into the bottom corner following a set-piece delivery from the halfway line.

Rossington played some tidy stuff at times during the first half and were perhaps unfortunate to find themselves two goals behind; Reiss Harrison put himself about and Harry Sheppard showed a few glimpses of what he can do with some decent work on a difficult and sloping pitch which didn’t help anyone. Manny Kianga also looked lively in parts and had a couple of shots, but the second half performance was very much a case of the ball coming straight back at Rossington whenever they attempted to get it forward and was largely poor.

Just like my recent trip to Armthorpe Welfare to see Tom Parkinson who is on loan there from Doncaster Rovers right now, the purpose of going to this game was to check up on the youngsters who are at Oxford Street from DRFC. 

Josh Lindley (in midfield), Alex Fletcher (in a slightly unfamiliar position at left-back) and Charlie Petch (at centre-back) all featured for Rozzo in this game and they were as good as anyone else in a blue shirt; not outstanding, not terrible either, but their effort levels couldn’t be questioned. Fletchy slid what would have been an inviting ball across the box late on albeit the flag was already up for offside, Josh had some tidy touches in midfield and applied himself well and Petchy defended solidly under pressure on a few occasions, but it was just one of those nights overall which nobody in a Rozzo shirt will want to remember for too long.

The visitors also had a couple of other ex-DRFC scholars in Myron Gibbons (who came on as a substitute in the second half) and Kian Johnson (who played between the sticks and is still training at Derby County every week), whilst Maltby also have one of DRFC's youth teamers from last season in their ranks in Alex Wolny although he probably hates cup competitions. 

About this time last year, Wolny stripped into his kit on the touchline at Glanford Park and was about to make his professional debut as a substitute in a Papa John’s Trophy clash against Scunthorpe, only for Rovers to concede two very quick goals which meant the change was canned and he stayed on the bench. He was released in the summer and never did feature for the first team and, this time around, he was ineligible to play in this game having featured for Worksop Town in Round One.

If Maltby reach the final again - just as they did last year when they were beaten by Worksop, ironically, there’s every likelihood that game will be played at the Eco-Power Stadium (especially if the DRFC hierarchy believe they can make a few quid out of it) and Wolny would be ineligible for that game too. Typical. 

Rossington’s main focus (you see what I did there) is always going to be about how they perform in the league this year, and their attention will now switch back to getting enough points on the board to ensure they’re in the Play-Offs (at least) come the end of the season.

They've spent money to attract good players but it’s fair to say they’ve lost their way since they were beaten by Campion in a top of the table six-pointer last month. Tonight's loss was their fourth in their last six outings so a quick improvement is needed - and if they don’t pick up a reasonable points tally over their next few fixtures against Wakefield and Staveley before the end of this month, followed by some tricky-looking fixtures in December, they'll be lucky to still be in the Play-Off spots at the turn of the year.

The pressure is on and they’ll have to respond.