Badgers Sports Ground Saturday, March 3rd, 2012   Kent League Attendance: 60         Cray Valley Paper Mills 1-2 Lordswood
2011 /12

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Report Lordswood quickly returned to winning ways after the disappointment of last weeks result, but it wasn’t the most impressive of performances and this Lordswood side have definitely played a lot better and lost in recent times. A disappointing first half performance saw the Lords come in behind and took a dressing down in the changing rooms at the break from Jason Lillis and Steve Arnold to turn the game around. A couple of changes were made from last week. With Joe Kane unavailable in came Jon Baker, and Adam Ling was dropped to the bench with Nathan Taylor coming in to the starting line-up. The game could have been all so different after just three minutes as Dion Monaghan headed home Adam Hooper’s free-kick from the right but the Lordswood striker was judged offside by the referee’s assistant and the goal was disallowed. With 8 minutes on the clock Rob Norman was crudely brought down on the halfway line by Ben Healy with a vile lunge that sent the Lordswood youngster flying into the pitchside hoardings. Norman was left in considerable pain and after a few minutes of treatment he was substituted for Cameron Lagan whilst Healy inexplicably escaped any form of punishment by weak referee Mr Dodd. Despite winning a couple of corners Lordswood didn’t test Jack Carthy in the Cray goal, and Matt Byott was even more of a virtual spectator in the Lordswood goal. That was until the 25th minute when a long throw by Joe Matthews bounced into the Lordswood box unchallenged and Jason Dolby easily headed home to give Cray the lead. Two minutes later and Lagan’s attempted shot from Dion Monaghan’s flick was deflected wide for a corner From Maskell’s corner an unmarked Dominic Elmes had a free header at goal but his weak effort was comfortably gathered by Carthy. With 29 minutes on the clock, Cray should have doubled their lead. A long ball forward was chased by Pete Huggens and Luke Tanner. Huggens lost his footing allowing Tanner a free shot on goal, but his attempt went horribly wide with only Byott to beat. With half-time approaching, Lordswood were struggling to bring anything to the game, with a number of passes going astray. With 6 minutes remaining of the half, Mark Allen’s corner was met by Alex Prall but his goalbound effort was cleared off the line by the Lordswood defence. A minute later and Prall went close again as another Matthews throw went unchallenged but Prall could only head at Byott. Cray were now in the ascendancy and on 42 minutes a Jamie Miller cross from the right was met by Tanner but he headed over the bar. On 45 minutes, Tanner found himself with time and space in the middle before spreading the ball left to Allen but his shot went just wide of the upright. With the clock ticking into time added on Tanner again found himself clear on goal but somehow blazed over the bar. With Jason Lillis’ words ringing in their ears Lordswood came out for the second half shooting up the incline of the Cray Valley pitch and with a strong wind behind them. It only took 7 minutes for the desired affect to take hold. A ball into the Cray box was cleared as far as Lee Maskell. Maskell had time to compose himself before shooting from 25 yards. Carthy could only parry the ball and Nathan Taylor reacted quickest to slot the ball home from 5 yards. With 62 minutes gone, a Lordswood throw was controlled in the box by Elmes before he flicked the ball out to Maskell on the edge of the area, but Maskell’s first time volley went over the bar. Three minutes later and Matthews long throw again caused problems for Lordswood as a poor clearance fell to Rob Bryant whose shot on the volley went just wide. With 67 minutes on the clock Lordswood had Jon Baker to thank as he cleared Allen’s goalbound header off the line. A flurry of substitutions from both sides broke up the flow of the game for a ten minute spell with Lordswood bringing on Adam Ling for the tiring Lagan, whilst Richard Styles came on for Dion Monaghan. With ten minutes to go Lordswood grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and finally took total control, and in the 84th minute scored their second goal. Styles had the ball midway inside the Lordswood half before chipping it forward. With the Cray defence stepping up to play offside Imran Englefield timed his run to perfection, controlling the ball with his head before advancing into the box and coolly slotting the ball past Carthy for his 7th goal of the season. This proved to be the last real chance of the game as Lordswood were happy to play keep ball and see home the three points, which allowed them to leapfrog above their opponents in the table to 11th place.