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Monks 1 – Winwick 2 ( Match report T. Torvill)
Match Reports Supplied by I. Jackson
Monks in good heart after recent friendly performances met Winwick in the first match
of the 2000 - 2001 season.
A huge crowd was packed into the ground swelled by the travelling hoards of Monks supporters.
The match unfortunately didn't start as the away fans would have liked with Winwick on top straight away.
The Monks defence were under pressure straight away and had no time to enjoy the late summer weather.
After just 4 mins of the new season Monks conceded their first goal following a swift Winwick attack and a good shot that left Jackson with no chance.
More bad news came in the next minute when following a Winwick corner a shot came in that was going wide but unluckly deflected off Rigby and into the goal.
7 mins and Monks managed to put together their first real attack. The ball was pushed through for Chester who raced onto it and forced an excellent save from the Winwick goalkeeper.
8 mins and Monks attacked down the left Torvill curled a pass with the outside of his boot to Chester who saw the keeper race out to clear.
Despite these attacks Winwick stayed mainly on top and had a shot tipped away by Jackson on 11 mins.
The next minute Jackson dived bravely at an attackers feet to save another effort.
Winwick continued to press and scored again to make it 3-0 with a shot from the edge of the area after 15 mins.
Rigby was replaced by Jones in the 18th minute and on 20 mins disaster struck again .
As Winwick pressed forward a shot came in which Jackson pushed away for a corner.
From the set play the corner hit Harvey and deflected in for the 2nd own goal of the game.
25 mins and at last Monks broke from Winwick`s strangle hold. Following a move down the right the ball was played into Chester who beat a defender before slotting home to bring some respectability back.
Despite this Winwick restored their 4 goal advantage after 28 mins when following a speculative through ball the ball bobbled over Jacksons foot leaving Winwick with an easy tap in.
The second half started with Booth on his full league debut for Monks coming off to be replaced by Spencer.
Monks played altogether better in the second half with Jackson only having to make 2 saves of real note in the 32nd and 38th minutes.
34 minutes saw Chester go close and in the 46 minute following good play Chester hooked the ball in.
Monks continued to dominate without creating too many clear chances but pulled another goal back on 57 mins when a move down the right saw the ball squared to Torvill and his through ball found Chester. He tangled with the keeper and as the ball broke loose Rutty slotted it home. The ref. appeared however to blow for a foul on the keeper but let the goal stand as he said it was an accident.
This was the worse of several errors from the ref. which saw him cruelly book Henshaw.
Monks in fact dominated the second half and fought back valiantly to 5 - 3 before they ran out of time with a worried home support glad to hear the final whistle.
following last weeks defeat Monks looked to put things right with a home match against Appleton.
Unfortunately it wasn't to be as Monks recorded their 2nd defeat of the season.
Appleton started the better side but after 3 mins Jackson gathered the ball and launched a kick down the middle.
Rutty collected the ball and fed Chester who slotted home.
Appleton continued to dominate and scored in both the 7th and 8th minutes to take the lead.
Monks had no answer and Appleton continued to attack scoring again in the 16th min but Jackson made a string of saves to keep Monks in the game.
In the 2nd half Monks played better and after 7 mins a good move won a corner.
Appleton couldn't clear and Chester fired home to reduce the arrears.
Monks now on top had another chance cleared from Chester following good work from Miller and Henshaw.
16 mins saw Monks come back cancelled out when Appleton`s forwards were given too much respect and they fired home.
22mins and Monks not giving up Chester nicked the ball off the goalie and scored to complete his hat-trick.
A damp and dismal day weather wise and football wise as Monks crashed to a 7-0 defeat at Birchwood their third on the run.
Strangely though it all started quite well for Monks against one of the seasons title contenders.
For the first 1/4 of the match it was fairly even and there were few chances at either end.
In fact for the first 5 mins it was all Monks and Birchwood couldn't get out of their own half.
Dispute this Birchwood took the lead after 4 mins when a free kick was floated in and a free header gave them the lead.
From this time on however there was constant pressure from Birchwood and only a string of fine saves from Jackson kept the score down.
All too often Monks defenders were found lacking as Birchwood scored in the 23rd, 25th, 26th, 28th, 34th, and 42nd minutes.
Despite shuffling the pack Monks management couldn't find the solution and Monks managed only 2 efforts on goal during the match.
This was Monks worst performance of the season and prompted the calling of a team meeting to discuss the issues arising.
Monks finally recorded their first win in a competitive match this season.
After last years heroics the crowd were expectant of another good run in the Challenge Cup.
Confidence was high after already beating Peel Hall in the pre-season and Monks took the game to Peel Hall straight away.
After only 3 mins Chester pounced onto a chance and scored. 5 mins later he scored his and Monks 2nd and it
looked like a heavy victory was on the cards.
However Monks then sat back allowed Peel Hall to gain the upper hand.
Only because of some poor finishing, some saving tackles especially from Booth and some fine saves
from Jackson did Peel Hall not get back onto level terms.
In the 22nd min Peel Hall did reduce the arrears.
Half Time 2 - 1
In the 2nd half Peel started the better and had a loud penalty appeal turned down as the referee was unsighted.
From then on Monks grabbed the upper hand and in the end ran out comfortable winners as Chester added
2 more to his tally ( 44, 48 mins ) and Henshaw opened his account after some great 2nd half runs in the 59th min.
Looking to kickstart their league campaign Monks travelled to the delightful Widnes to take on St Michaels in a
rearranged fixture.
This really looked like being Monks week when despite being without the holidaying Rutty and against the run of
play they took a 2 goal lead with the prolific Chester scoring 2 in the 6th and 13th minutes.
With a new look back 4 with Miller at right back the defence was holding firm despite St Ms pressure.
However they kept plugging away and failure to close down attackers quickly enough and get the ball clear
led to 2 goals in as many minutes for St Ms in the 24th and 26th minutes.
The second half saw Monks battling a bit more but in the main allowing St Ms too much space and time on the ball.
2 more goals in the 36th and 42nd mins seemed to put the game beyond Monks but Torvill scored an excellent
goal following Chesters good work and it was game on with 10 mins on the clock.
Unfortunately in the next min St Ms won a corner and one of the smallest players on the pitch was given a free header
to put the game beyond Monks.
A disappointing end to a game that looked so good for Monks at the start.
A new look Monks due to holidays and injury took the field against a St. Michaels team confident after their
victory last week.
Despite being without Rutty and Harvey due to holiday comittments and Jackson out with a broken arm
the Monks team set out determined to give St Michaels a game.
In terrible conditions this is exactely what they did and were unlucky not to come away with any points from the match.
Monks were definitely the better team in the opening stages and took the game to St Michaels.
There was much more determination in Monks`s tackling right from the off and they tried to pass the ball around
despite the difficult conditions.
In the 10th minute Monks were rewarded when their leading scorer Chester slotted home to open the scoring.
Unfortunately St M`s pulled level in the very next minute against the run of play when a shot was fired home giving
stand in keeper Henshaw no chance.
In fact Henshaw accquitted himself excellently over the whole match.
Monks however didn`t give in and probably continued to play the better football but as typically of a season of bad luck
a strange linesman awarded a throw to St M`s which should have been Monks`s and they went on to do an excellent
move and take the lead.
The second half became a battle as the weather worsened and so did the tackling and behaviour of the St M`s players.
In the face of this barrage the home team went about their business in a determined manner but went further behind
in the 37th minute.
Unlike some matches this year Monks didn`t buckle and continued to show fight and determination.
In the 89th minute Monks forced a 2nd goal again from Chester and with St M`s becoming more and more agitated
probably would have gone on to score again if time had been on their side.
Unfortunately it wasn`t to be and despite their best efforts Monks narrowly missed out.
Team: M. Jackson, N. Jones, A. Booth,
M. Harvey, P. Rigby, T. Goodall, J, Henshaw, N. Miller, G. Spencer, A. Chester, M. Rutty.
Subs: No substitutes.
With players missing and Ashley
Torvill injured in the pr-match warm up, Monks were down to the bare bones for the first
match of the new year and found themselves a goal behind after only 3 minutes. The
midfield and defence looked pedestrian when Winwick carved open a goal scoring opportunity
that gave Matthew Jackson no chance of saving in the Monks goal.
Monks started to get more involved and M.Rutty and A. Chester were causing the Winwick defence all sorts of problems with their pace and it eventually paid off with an equalizer from M. Rutty after 18 minutes. UP to the equalizer Monks certainly looked the better team although Winwick did carve out a number of chances, hitting the woodwork on a couple of accasions. With only 3 minutes remaining disaster struck when a cross from the right came floating in towards the Monks six yard area and Adam Booth just got his head to the ball and unfortunately glanced it passed his own goal keeper to make it 2 – 1 to Winwick at half time.
Monks turned round for the second half against a strong wind and they knew that they would have to work very hard to get anything out of this match, especially with no subs on a physically drain zapping pitch. The game swung from one end of the pitch to the other with, Winwick hitting the woodwork again and M. Rutty and A. Chester coming very close to an equalizer, but it was not to be, with Winwick taking all 3 points and leaving Monks with a mountain to climb if they are to stay in this division. If Monks produce this kind of form in the remaining fixtures then it’s not beyond them to fight clear of the relegation zone.
