A bad day for “the works”
NEWARK FLOWSERVE suffered their fourth league defeat of the season as they went down 1-0 at home to Ashby Ivanhoe to lose top spot in the East Midlands Counties League.
The game, played on a glorious spring afternoon, attracted another bumper gate at Lowfields, with the 254 crowd passing the 250-mark for the third time this campaign at Hawton Lane, but a defiant performance from the Leicestershire visitors kept the home heroes at bay.
And a 5-0 success for Selston at Rainworth Miners’ Welfare means that Flowserve now trail their title rivals by three points having played a game more.
The men in orange began brightly and swept forward from the off but, once the visitors had sounded a warning after a 16th minute strike from the aptly-named Kerr Horn, The Highwaymen were always chasing the game.
When the two teams met in the corresponding fixture at Ashby-de-la-Zouch in October, Flowserve had raced into a four-goal lead by the interval in an ultimate 4-0 success, but it was clear that the visitors were made of sterner stuff on this occasion.
An Ashby defence superbly marshalled by skipper Dan Stevenson held firm in the face of early forays led by the inspirational Jammy Lloyd and his battling fellow midfielder, birthday boy Jack Beckett, while debutant Sam Woolley looked lively on the right following his arrival from Ingles.
A couple of dangerous crosses fired in from the latter were repelled, with one being taken off the toe of Sam Agar but, once Ashby had taken the lead, they seemed to grow in confidence.
A great burst from Woolley down the right on the half hour saw Agar tee up his cross for Daryl Price on the edge of the box, but he sliced his effort tamely. Then another drilled ball from Woolley just evaded Agar on the far post.
On the stroke of half-time a corner from the right by Price found Agar, only for his downward header to nestle in the arms of visiting keeper Jake Warriner.
Eight minutes into the second half the young referee - who had earlier given a handball decision against Beckett despite the incident leaving the Flowserve man with blood streaming from his nose where the ball had actually struck him - deemed that Agar had dived following a foul and flourished a yellow card that summed up the frustration of everyone with orange at heart.
A great ball from the right by Sol Miller released Agar just before the hour, and his tricky footwork was followed by a sharp shot that was kept out by a combination of the keeper and a fine block by that man Stevenson.
Then Flowserve left-back Will Rawdon produced a brilliant late goal-line clearance to deny Mitch Woodbine a goal that would have seen the home side’s hopes go up in smoke.
As it was, it was Ashby who had the cigars out at the end.
Newark Flowserve: 1 Nathan Burrows; 2 Sol Miller; 3 Will Rawdon; 4 Tom Potts (captain); 5 Rhys Lewis (Elliot King 79mins); 6 Jammy Lloyd; 7 Sean Woolley (Jahred Russell 66mins); 8 Jack Beckett; 9 Sam Agar; 10 Daryl Price; 11 Blair Anderson (Ryley Thompson 70mins).
Attendance: 254.