24/03/2024
By Chris Gibbs
Streetwise Cables too strong for Castle
Prescot Cables strengthened their hopes of a second placed finish in the league and extended our run of games without a win to four with a comfortable 1-0 win at the Joseph Russell stadium yesterday.
We were always going to have our work cut out in this one – travelling to face a promotion chasing opponent with a side ravaged by injuries. Tommy van der Laan, Callum Holland, Isaac Graham and Jake Twyford all missed out while Jack Derbyshire was also unavailable.
This meant we played with a back five of Niall Osbourne, Josh Smith, Josh Jordan, Kyle Stubbs and Ollie Ritchie – meaning a full debut for Josh Smith after coming on as a sub last week – with Ben Guest making his first start in midfield.
Back five or back four, our gaffer Neil Baker was tearing out what little hair he has left at the way we conceded after just four minutes. We got exposed down our defensive right and as the cross came in, although we had plenty of numbers back to cover, Cables’ Fran Smith simply held his position and despatched a side foot finish high into Slinny’s net.
Our initial response to going behind was good. A Stubbsy long throw caused panic in the Cables’ box resulting in a desperate clearance off the line. From the resultant corner, the ever-reliable Ollie Ritchie popped a lovely delivery over for Josh Jordan to attack. Josh’s header needed a weightier contact though, and the chance flew wide.
Almost immediately Slinny was then called upon to make a fine block with his body at the other end as Kyle Sambor evaded our back line.
Just after the half hour mark came possibly our best opportunity of the game, Ollie broke through into the Cables’ box but our full back went for power at the near post when a cut back or strike across goal was probably the better option.
There’s no two ways about it. Our second half performance wasn’t up to the standards we set ourselves. We fought hard but created very little in terms of threat and in all honesty, it was our hosts who were far more likely to add to their advantage, as they surged forward frequently in the final 15 minutes.
There were positives. Jack van der Laan made a welcome return from injury and there was a debut off the bench for Nathan Barry. As Jack stood over a free kick in the sixth minute of added time – you just wondered whether we might purloin an underserved point but Cables’ defended with strength and determination and the full time whistle blew just as we might have had one final free kick. We could have no complaints.
Next up is a trip to basement side 1874 Northwich before a reunion for our gaffer with his former employers Leek on Easter Monday. We’ll need to improve on this for both.
Team: Slinn, Osbourne, Ritchie, Smith, Jordan, Stubbs, Guest, (J. Van der Laan), Sherratt, Avery, Jones, (Barry), Lewis.
Man of the match: Ollie Ritchie (a difficult one to call yesterday which our left back would have made easier for me if he’d scored in the first half!)