Retford United 4-1 Newark Town
Finally we had some football back at Cannon Park, a big game too with us playing Newark Town in the first group stage game of the Chairman’s Cup.
As soon as the game got underway Newark were on the front foot and nearly caught out the Badger’s if it wasn’t for an amazing double save from Retford’s number 1, Tom Crosby. The Badgers woke up and slowly got into the game, controlling the majority of the possession. West and Frost were putting the opposition defence under a lot of pressure but in the first half they looked solid as a rock at the back. The first goal game in the 17th minute with Town taking the lead. They broke through on the left side and the forward put it across goal and into the bottom right corner.
After this goal it all got a lot more fiery and physical. A lot of fouls on both sides of the pitch. On the 38th minute the Badgers won a penalty after Mark West got brought down. West stepped up and dispatched it into the goal. The keeper got a hand to it, but not enough to keep it out. This drew Retford level at an important time as the half time whistle was blown shortly after. The beginning of the second half was relatively quiet, neither team wanted to risk too much. In the 49th minute, fullback Jay Paling made a darting run down the right hand side to win a vital corner for the Badgers. Unfortunately the corner didn’t cause any problems as the opposition keeper was off his line to collect it and send his side on the attack. Two substitutions were made to change it up. Brandon Ashmore replaced Liam Frost up top and Kosi Nwobi came into the midfield to replace Mason Barlow.
The next goal came in the 82nd minute when Adam Daughtrey played a looping ball from the right touchline all the way goalwards. The ball ended up in the back of the net after the keeper misjudged it. The Badgers added to this lead 5 minutes later as substitute Ashmore cooly placed it past the keeper after some great build up play. Surely that would be enough for the three points. But Newark continued to attack and if it wasn’t for another phenomenal save from Crosby they would’ve been back in the game. Igor Mlynarski had been causing the opposition right back problems all game and he wanted a goal before the ref would blow for full time. He cut inside and tucked the ball right into the bottom right of the goal. A great finish to round off a great end to the game.
That superb ending gave the Badgers the first win of the Chairman’s Cup putting us right to the top of the group. Stuart Ludlum was awarded Man of the Match for his great performance at the back. We head to Dinnington Town on Tuesday night for our second game of the cup, it will be another tough game. With it being behind closed doors once again if you want to follow along the game, tune into our Twitter page from 19:45 to get minute to minute updates on the game.
“Up the Badgers”