From the Ref’s first whistle to the last, the Badgers were by far the dominant team. Retford played very maturely and didn’t just go for goal after goal, they enjoyed keeping possession and playing out from the back. There was no way of the opposition forwards getting anywhere near Tom Crosby or his goal with the defensive line being on their A game. Great work from Lawrence, Brook, Dawson and especially new signing Danny Swales who was so cool on the ball.
The first half saw Dawson and Mlynarski linking up well and leaving the Appleby Right-Back with a job on his hands. Aaron Fell was phenomenal and won every single ball that came into midfield. Aaron winning the battles meant that Appleby was always on the back foot, defending attacks from the centre with Casburn darting through the middle or defending crosses from Daughtrey or Mlynarski. The first goal came from great pressure on the Frodingham defence which forced a defensive error, leaving Mark West to finish and put the Badgers ahead on the 11th minute. The pressure didn’t stop there, Retford pinned their opposition back and attacked. A Dawson free kick smashed the bar on the 21st minute and a minute later Retford had their second through another Mark West goal. The corner flew in and landed at the back post for the unmarked West to volley in the second and extend the lead.
Retford played with even more confidence after this second goal and passed the ball round beautifully. Mlynarski sprinted beating at least 2 players. He played the ball into Daughtrey who had cut inside. The Keeper came out of his goal to close Daughtery down and make it harder for him to find the back of the net. But Daughtery had a better idea and was very unselfish to supply a ball across the box to Casburn to put it into an empty net. Great bit of play by the Retford forwards and now they were 3nil up inside 30 minutes. On the approach to Half Time Kane and Fell were outstanding in the middle, and it was clear that the lead Retford had were a lot to do with winning the game in the midfield.
The Badgers continued this dominant performance in the second half. A few minutes in the Opposition keeper went down injured and unfortunately had to be replaced. Swales nearly extended the lead to 4 when another corner caused problems for the home team. Danny Swales flicked the ball towards the goal, only to be matched by a better save from the just substituted Appleby Keeper. The Opposition keeper continued to make great saves, especially when it came to a long range effort from Fell. On the 57th minute Casburn was replaced by Wonham who instantly made an impact on the game, running at the already tired Frodingham defence. Wonham beat the Left-Back with ease and sprinted towards goal, only to be brought down in the box and the ref to award Retford a Penalty. Mark West stepped up and completed his impressive Hat-Trick by tucking it in the right corner. Minutes later the whistle was blown and the game was over. A well-deserved three points for the Badgers, as well as a great team performance. The Gaffa chose Aaron Fell for MOTM for an outstanding work rate for the whole 90 minutes.