17/11/2024
By Chris Gibbs
Castle dominate goalless draw with Congleton
We extended our unbeaten league run away from home to nine games yesterday at the Cleric Stadium, but the truth is we deserved more than the point we came away with on a day when missed chances meant we ended the day in tenth rather than taking the win that would have moved us into the play-offs.
Make no mistake though, this isn’t a time to be feeling downbeat. The performance – in front of a bumper crowd of 756 – as Bakes alluded to in our post-match interview, was outstanding in almost every aspect aside from sticking the ball in the net.
And boy, did we have some chances. After a start to the game where we had control of the play but without being particularly threatening, in the last 15 minutes of the first half we churned out chance after chance.
Tim Grice had a great opportunity to put is in front after some incisive play down the left from Jake Avery. Gricey struck his shot sweetly enough, but Congleton keeper David Parton will be grateful it was pretty much straight at him.
That came just after the half hour mark and five minutes later Jake Avery had an even better one. His initial work was outstanding, breaking through two challenges to create the chance for himself but in trying to catch Parton out on his left-side, he placed his finish the wrong side of the near post.
We were playing some lovely football and as half time neared, some exceptional linking play between Jack Derbyshire and Olly Armstrong created a chance for Gricey in the middle. The prolific marksman controlled the ball well but couldn’t get his shot away before a covering defender got across to block.
Having played down the slope in the first half, we knew that our opponents would come out determined to make amends in the second half kicking downwind – they’re infamous for it – and infuriatingly we started slowly. A straight ball from George Sankey down the inside right channel found Matt Gillam but Slinny was alert and turned it behind for a corner.
But it wasn’t long before we regained the initiative. Avery, whose pace caused all sorts of problems for the Congleton back line all afternoon, earned a free kick which was just a little too far out for a direct shot.
Ethan Vale swung it over towards the back post and Tom Thorley, fresh from his midweek brace against Clitheroe, wasn’t quite able to get enough purchase on his header to trouble Parton.
Roared on by some excellent vocal away support as the game moved into the final quarter and increasingly dominating possession, Jack Sherratt had a couple of long rangers one just wide and the second well fielded by the home keeper on a difficult pitch.
Then misfortune struck. Shortly after the league’s leading scorer Max McCarthy had been brought into the fray, our skipper Tommy van der Laan put in a crunching tackle on him but came off worse and had to be immediately withdrawn from the action. From the resulting corner, the home side had a header against the bar as we were briefly rocked.
Armstrong, who was again excellent, then got in a terrific cross from the right-hand side but Gricey couldn’t quite force his header over the line as we got back on the front foot and that was largely how the rest of the game played out.
As they say, we go again on Tuesday. It is frustrating that we couldn’t quite get over the line, but it most certainly wasn’t for the lack of trying or a drop in the quality of our football. Some days it just goes like that.
Team: Slinn, Derbyshire, Ritchie, Sherratt, Thorley, Van der Laan, (Stubbs 67), Armstrong, Vale Grice, Avery, Webster, (Jones 87).
Man of the match: Olly Armstrong – another fine display from the ginger Pele. His influence is growing with every performance.
Attendance: 756