A Six Point Weekend?!

A Six Point Weekend?!

          Right, I'm not sure how this has happened, and I'm not even sure when it last happened, but this weekend I celebrated a six point weekend. I'll start with the game I was at.

Young Centre-Back, James Weaver was caught gurning by the Camera man on Saturday.

          Ollerton travelled to Brigg to play in the Northern Counties East League Division One. Travelling with a strong squad that included two new signings and some players returning to the side who had missed the mid-week win over Clipstone. From the get go Kyle Ludlow looked destined to score and his goal came with aplomb. Using his brute force to get away from the Brigg defenders and hammering the ball towards the corner of the goal from outside the box and into the net. Ludlow was a nuisance to Brigg defenders all game, one of his challenges in the air actually led to the Brigg Captain going off injured, holding his stomach. Ollerton began to assert their dominance as the half went on, until a deep ball from Sean Dickinson set Gav King through on goal. The local forward, enjoying his second spell at Ollerton finished calmly, despite a touch from the 'keeper, into the net to give Ollerton a 2-0 lead going into the break.

          The second half carried on in more or less the same vein. Chance after chance came and went but Brigg's young goalkeeper kept them in it. That was until he more or less chucked one into his own net. Kyle Ludlow's effort bobbled towards the keeper who appeared to catch it, but it still somehow ended up in the goal. Gav King also got a second goal, a carbon copy of his first in truth to notch up his 17th of the season. the Only blotch on Ollerton's record was a poorly conceded goal from a Myles Lawman free kick. The young lad basically waited for the wall to jump before putting the ball into the bottom corner of the net. Lewis Bingham wasn't prepared to take this though and immediately won Ollerton a freekick near the left hand corner flag. He took it himself and drilled the ball into the box, where Ben Bowring rose highest to nestle the ball into the top corner of the net. Midweek cup hero Mark Carter and new signing Triston Burrell both had chances late on having come off the bench but the game finished at 5-1 to Ollerton.

Ben Bowring rises high to head home in the final stages.

          In the other half of my six point weekend, Nottingham Forest stole three points from runaway league leaders Wolves. Two goals in five minutes gave Forest the win and extended new Forest manager Aitor Karanka's run against Wolves. The reds were under early pressure and could probably feel lucky to have not fallen behind before Kieran Dowell's deflected shot found the net. Wolves were still reeling from that setback when Ben Osborn doubled Forest's advantage three minutes later. Forest capitalised after Wolves allowed a cross from Matty Cash to come in to Osborn, who scored with a rising drive into the roof of the net from 15 yards or so. In an effort to get back into the game Wolves replaced their fullbacks with wingers, but that nearly backfired early in the second half. Danny Fox's header forced a good save out of Ruddy who tipped over.
          "Forest went to the League leaders and came away with all three points." This is a statement you won't hear too often, if you add on the fact that they deserved the result as well then people would never believe you.

          In other news, my post last week mentioned I was going to the Dublin Derby in February to watch Bohemians vs Shamrock Rovers. We have since discovered that this game is well known for violence amongst supporters and we've been told to keep our heads down and not sound "too English." If we get back, then I'm sure I'll have something to write about.

Until next time,

Craig