Newark Flowserve
NEWARK FLOWSERVE slipped to a fourth defeat in seven league outings and dropped to fourth spot in the Midland Football League Premier Division as they went down 1-0 at fifth-placed Romulus on Saturday afternoon.
While the threatened Storm Jorge and some angry-looking clouds failed to disrupt the sunshine in the Castle Vale area of Birmingham, a stiff swirling wind meant that attractive football was at a premium.
And it took a hotly-disputed goal seven minutes from the end to separate the two sides as the Roms completed the double over The Highwaymen in a hard-fought encounter.
When Romulus won 2-0 at Lowfields back in mid October it was a frustrating defeat against streetwise opposition, and little had changed as February prepared to blend into March, with the men in their change strip of blue still appearing to have more questions than answers as they suffered their ninth league defeat in 28 outings.
The starting 11 was unchanged from Tuesday evening’s line-up that secured a semi-final place in the County Cup, and Flowserve showed much promise in the early exchanges.
The home side showed their intent first as Guy Clarke hit a stinging half volley from the edge of the box in the second minute, with Alfie Smith-Eccles responding well to push the ball up and round the post, and then claiming a cross under pressure following the resultant corner.
Kyle Dixon then pulled the ball back into the path of Lewis Brownhill after a corner on the left, only for the Flowserve man to hit the crossbar with a shot that was always rising, and then Zak Goodson went close for the visitors when he headed wide in front of goal.
Some of the challenges were not for the faint of heart, but the midfield battle rarely resulted in chances at either end, with the wind often carrying the ball to safety to frustrate forward endeavours in a goalless first half.
The visitors then had a let-off ten minutes into the second period when John Hayes crossed from the left and Kieron Donnelly only succeeded in tapping the ball into the arms of Smith-Eccles instead of pulling the trigger in front of goal.
Other than that Flowserve looked composed at the back, with Ben Greenwood again impressing as he won every aerial ball in the centre-half position.
Romulus lost a player 12 minutes from the end with a rare sin-binning offence after Alex Tomlinson offered the referee some unwanted advice – their only previous sin-binning transgression had come in the reverse fixture at Lowfields – but it was while they had a numerical disadvantage that they scored the only goal of the game.
That came in the 83rd minute when Calum Rudd’s claim that his close-range touch had crossed the line was upheld by the flag of the linesman on the far side, and by such small margins was the contest decided.
Newark Flowserve: 1 Alfie Smith-Eccles; 2 Lavell White; 3 Tom Potts (captain); 4 Lawrence Gorman (Mitch Robinson 84mins); 5 Ben Greenwood; 6 Jermaine Hollis; 7 Danny Meadows; 8 Kyle Dixon; 9 Ben Hutchinson (Massiah McDonald 52mins); 10 Lewis Brownhill; 11 Zak Goodson (Matt Cotton 65mins).
Attendance: 111.