Biggleswade v Haleowen Town
Substitute Jamie Molyneux came off the bench to score the only goal as Halesowen Town kept up their 100% away record at the expense of Biggleswade FC at Langford Road.
It was another frustrating afternoon for the hosts, who once again gave a good account of themselves against one of the more fancied sides, but ultimately their efforts yielded no goals and no points for the second time in three league outings.
Less than six months ago there were two divisions between these sides and in terms of respective fan bases, FC average between 100-150 at home, whilst their more illustrious opponents generally average between 500-600 per home game, so there has to be a little perspective on where we are at in our first campaign at Step 4. However, this is the company we wanted to rub shoulders with this season and everyone at the club is certainly relishing the challenge.
The visitors started the more assured of the two teams, popping the ball around with a good tempo and authority, but as most teams have found in recent weeks, this FC unit are a tough one to crack.
Tom Coles had a well-struck effort comfortably saved by Yeltz keeper Brendon Bunn, whilst visiting marksman Montel Gibson had the ball in the net moments later only for a swift offside flag to be raised.
A short corner routine in the 17th minute set up a decent shooting opportunity for Kieran Barnes, but he didn't catch it as cleanly as he would like and a Halesowen defender blocked and then hooked clear.
The home side continued to have some moments of promise on the counter-attack, but Bunn remained largely untroubled as the ball in the final third was either not quite accurate enough or snuffed out by a strong Yeltz defensive unit.
Halesowen worked Tyler Josephs on a couple of occasions before the half was out. The first coming from a towering far-post header from a corner that saw Josephs tip over well. Then left-back James Bowen went on a slaloming run into the penalty area before lashing goalwards and again Josephs showed tremendous reflexes to turn it over the top.
FC made a decent start to the second half with a couple of promising attacks, but again the final pass or ball in was not quite enough to unlock the Yeltz defence. Tom Cookman did well to make something of a long ball forward, but Ryan Inskip's shot was high over the bar. That was to be Inskip's final contribution as he would limp off moments later.
The visitors continued to look the more likely going forward, but they were now playing more direct and trying to force an opening of the first and second ball. Questions were being asked of the FC rearguard once more and again they showed the required resilience to keep their opponents at bay.
The hosts best chance of the second half arrived at the midway point when Tom Coles clipped a lovely pass behind the Yeltz right back and Kieran Barnes was on to it in a flash. As the ball sat up, Barnes sweetly-struck a dipping volley across goal, but Bunn was there to make an excellent save.
Lawrie Marsh fashioned another half chance for FC four minutes later when he found Barnes on the edge of the penalty area, but this time his effort was deflected behind.
An attacking double change for the visitors just before the hour mark traded pace and trickery for aerial and physical prowess and although FC mainly stood up to the change of approach admirably, it was one of those substitutions that ultimately proved key to breaking the host's stubborn resistance.
A deep cross from the Halesowen right was inswinging dangerously towards the far post. Montel Gibson slid in to get on the end of it and although his effort wasn't on target, he managed to divert the ball back across goal for substitute Jamie Molyneux to slide in and prod home.
Biggleswade tried in vain to restore parity with efforts from Coles and Lawrie Marsh in the closing moments, but Halesowen held out to close the gap on leaders Berkhamsted to six points with two games in hand. The defeat for FC sees them slip back into the bottom four, but they are still very much in touch with the sides above them.
