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Non-league football: Star find visiting keeper in top form
Northern Star v Daventry match action at Chestnut Avenue, Peterborough. Photo: Paul Franks/Peterborough ET (METP-14-01-12PF310)
CHROMASPORT & TROPHIES UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE, Premier Division: NORTHERN STAR 1, DAVENTRY UTD 2
IT was a testing afternoon for Star from the moment their matchday announcer encountered the name Jaszczun on the visiting teamsheet.
A few fluffed attempts later and none of the 81 hardy souls that braved a Chestnut Avenue chill were any the wiser on the identity of a player who also goes by the name of Tommy and apparently appeared more than 100 times for Blackpool earlier in his career.
And the man on the microphone wasn’t the only Star figure to be tripped up by Daventry United on Saturday - the entire playing staff were too.
Somehow the city side contrived to lose a match they should have had won by the time the half-time whistle sounded.
Star created a whole stack of chances in an opening 45 minutes they dominated from start to finish. Unfortunately they took none of them.
The normally lethal three-pronged Star strikeforce of Karl Gibbs, Addie Staffieri and Avelino Vieira all met their match in an inspired visiting goalkeeper while others failed to find the target at all.
Liam Hook rolled the best chance of all wide after a Gibbs shot had been parried into his path. Fellow midfielder Ali Nyang chose to seek out Gibbs with a pass rather than shoot himself after bursting through.
Their failure to find the net returned to haunt Star when Daventry hit the front five minutes into the second half courtesy of a pinpoint 20-yarder from Tommy Waldock that caught goalkeeper Luke McShane napping.
To their credit Star did respond well. A powerful Staffieri run was curtailed by a clumsy goalkeeper’s challenge and the same player duly converted the resulting penalty to restore parity.
Given their earlier dominance it was a position from which Star were expected to go on and complete a comfortable success. It didn’t happen.
In fact very little did for the remainder of a contest in which the entertainment level dropped at the same rate as the body temperatures of those watching.
McShane made a couple of smart saves in one goalmouth scramble but was beaten again in the final minute when Daventry substitute Leon Edwards applied the finishing touch to a cut-back.
It was a late twist that almost certainly ends the final, feint lingering hope of landing the Premier Division title. It also means it is now advantage Holbeach in the race to be leading locals.
Northern Star: McShane, Cook, Horne, Morris, Cox, Dean, Nyang, Hook (Porter), Staffieri, Gibbs (Stead), Vieira. Unused: Raynor, Bloodworth, Medwynter.
SPALDING 2
THRAPSTON 1
NEW manager Pat Rayment had a watching brief as Spalding stretched their unbeaten run to four matches.
The former Posh and Cambridge player, and Deeping manager, was handed the Tulips reins late on Friday.
Rayment, who has been out of the game for almost a year after a short stint as number two at Stamford, had been strongly linked with the post ever since the sacking of Andy Stanhope last month.
The identity of the new boss came as no surprise even if the timing of his arrival did given it arrived on the same day as club chairman Chris Toynton had insisted no appointment was imminent.
Rayment said: “Mine and the club’s objectives are as one and I’m fully up for the challenge here.”
The caretaker team of Bob Don-Duncan and Danny Hussey, who will both remain as part of Rayment’s managerial set-up, were at the helm for the final time on Saturday as Spalding came from behind to see off struggling Thrapston.
Defender Simon Ashton prodded them level just before the break and recalled winger Tom James completed the turnaround with 20 minutes to go.
Hussey, who was also Rayment’s number two at Deeping, said: “I told the lads beforehand that Pat would be watching and they went out and put in an awful performance in the first half.
“We were miles off the pace and Pat won’t have been in the slightest bit impressed with what he saw. I let the lads know that at half-time and they were much better in the second half.”
Rayment will take charge for the first time at table-toppers King’s Lynn on Saturday.
Spalding: Conroy, Ford, Earls, Ashton, Fuff, James, Cherry (O’Loughlin), Brady (Harris), Thompson, Mowbray (Lyon), Smith. Unused: Allan, Hussey.
AFC KEMPSTON 1
YAXLEY 1
THE Cuckoos edged to within a point of safety with a solid away showing.
Recent recruit Luke Hipwell fired his first goal for the club as they shared the spoils at top-half side Kempston.
Hipwell broke the deadlock with a fine individual effort before the break but Gary Clipston’s men were pegged back by a free-kick leveller from the hosts.
Clipston said: “We’re unbeaten in three games now and we’ve picked up five points in that time.
“I’m pleased with the progress we’re making and we’re slowly getting ourselves into a position where we can climb out of the bottom two.
“The spirit and resolve is much-improved in recent weeks. We’re getting through rocky spells in games whereas previously we would have crumbled.”
Hipwell and Richard Challinor were unable to convert other good chances for Yaxley.
Yaxley: Jordan, Wood, Ridout, Murphy, Stone, Challinor, Hipwell, Smith (De Sousa), Bettinson, Hailstone, Asensi. Unused: Bate, Hotchkiss, Rosser, Hollis.
DESBOROUGH 4
DEEPING 1
RANGERS were ripped apart by rock-bottom Desborough on a day to forget.
A debut goal from new striking signing Alex Beck was the only bright spot for Tuncay Korkmaz’s sorry side.
Deeping were already three goals down by the time Beck found the net with a classy overhead kick in the 25th minute.
The former Boston Town hitman saw another effort cleared off the line but a fourth Desborough goal before the break left them in control.
And any lingering Deeping hopes of a revival were scuppered when defender Steve Julian was sent-off in the second period.
Former Posh player and ex-Spalding manager Richard Scott has made a playing comeback with Desborough.
The Northants club have also snapped up locally-based former Yaxley and Bourne keeper Aaron Bellairs.
Deeping: Doughty, Evans, Jackson, Tinkler, Julian, Weston, Brader (Holt), Burton-Jones, Beck, Heron (Ginty), Moreman (Gilbert). Unused: Korkmaz.
ST IVES 3
BLACKSTONES 1
STONES were more than a match for one of the Premier Division’s form teams despite coming away empty-handed.
The Stamford side failed to take a host of good chances when controlling the opening period and that ultimately proved their downfall.
It was second-half stoppage time when they finally did find the net courtesy of substitute Steve Burns.
Co-boss Darren Jarvis said: “We played ever so well in the first half without managing to stick our chances away.
“We couldn’t reproduce that in the second half but we showed yet again that we can compete with a top side.”
Blackstones: Crockett, Smitheringale (Strange), Porter, Hunnings, Ellis, Barker, Avis, Boome, Pearce (Cox), Nelson, Scotcher (Burns).
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