Tony Smiths hard hitting report on another three points for Flowserve
IT IS difficult to know where to start when writing up a match which had more talking points than Prime Minister’s Question Time.
But, rather like our country’s leader, the visitors from Leicestershire had no credible answers when the questions got tough.
Even when presented by the match officials with a two-man advantage, Ingles to a man - team, bench and volatile supporters - left Lowfields having contributed little other than a bad taste.
Flowserve’s Sean Woolley, their former player, was an early target for Ingles when their over-exciteable left-back Dom Watts knelt behind the winger, causing him to tumble to the ground. But the playground prank backfired on the visitors, making only Watts and his crowing bench look foolish.
It set the tone for a first half not worthy of column inches, but referee Wayne Mason announced his presence early in the second period when he flourished a red card for home captain Tom Potts seven minutes after the break, adjudging him to have first committed a foul and then compounding the decision by crucially deciding that he was the last man some 30 yards from goal.
The ten men took the lead on the hour mark when Elliot King - on at half-time for ineffectual debutant Samson Adelade – marked his return to the fold by heading home Woolley’s deep free-kick from the left.
King, looking lively, then crossed from the left and saw his delivery steered on to his own crossbar by Ingles’ Mr Watts. Given his over-animated demeanour, it may have passed his attention that the two teams had swapped ends at the interval, and he was substituted shortly afterwards.
Woolley continued to be a thorn in his old team’s side as he provided the 71st minute pass for Tyrell Shannon-Lewis to race clear and put The Highwaymen two-up.
But the referee intervened yet again nine minutes later and gave Flowserve’s other new signing Obaro Edobor a second yellow card for kicking the ball away – an offence that Ingles had employed from the first minute without punishment.
Flowserve’s frustrated goalkeeping coach Andrew Nicholson was then shown the game’s third red card for voicing what everyone else was thinking about the standard of the officials.
Then the nine men rubbed salt into the wounds of their visitors by netting a third goal – and it came with delicious irony from that man Woolley.
Newark Flowserve had dug deep and shown their true character at its best in the face of everything that was thrown at them. And another fantastic attendance of 284 saw them provide all the answers.
Newark Flowserve: 1 Nathan Burrows; 2 Sol Miller; 3 Will Rawdon; 4 Tom Watts (captain); 5 Obaro Edobor; 6 Rhys Lewis; 7 Sean Woolley; 8 Jack Beckett; 9 Tyrell Shannon-Lewis (Curtis Price 81mins); 10 Samson Adelade (Elliot King HT); 11 Blair Anderson (Jahred Russell 84mins).
Attendance: 284.
