Boro 1 Armthorpe Welfare 1

10th November 2009

Boro were fortunate to take a point against a very good Armthorpe Welfare side at Queensgate tonight. Scott Phillips scored and missed a penalty in a 1-1 draw.

Report by Stuart Fairbridge...

It was a case of after the Lord Mayors show, as Boro clung on for a point against an impressive Armthorpe Welfare at a chilly Queensgate.

There was only one change from the great victory over Bridlington Town, Craig Evans replaced Danny Moore at right full back, and there was one change on the bench, with Danny Farthing replacing James Webb.

The tone of the game was set in the opening minutes, as the visitors were straight on the front foot, they should have taken the lead after seven when Liam Hardy blazed over from twelve yards with only Arran Reid to beat, then five minutes later Boro were thankful to Reid again when he saved a shot from Bruno Holden.

Boro responded with their first attack, Ryan Blott sent a deep cross in from the right that was controlled and volleyed by Richard Medcalf; unfortunately keeper Paul Fraser easily saved it.

That was only a respite for Boro as they were soon on the back foot, and Holden again had the chance to score but fired over after a mix up in the Boro defence.

Twenty five minutes in, came the first talking point of the game, the ball was chased down the right by Blott, who was being marked by Armthorpe captain Ian Farmley, the ball ran out of play for a throw in to Boro, which Farmley disputed, then proceeded to get Blott in a “headlock”, two yards from the linesman, who didn’t even flag the offence, this seemed to spark off a row in the centre of the pitch when Danny Sharpe decided to push Richard Medcalf with his head!

After it had all settled down, the referee, decided in his wisdom to book both Farmley and Blott, the game restarted and Holden had another opportunity, but again Reid denied him.

Then after thirty-four minutes and totally out of the blue, Boro took the lead, they were awarded a penalty when Medcalf was man handled in the box by Farmley, who had “totally lost the plot”, and Scott Phillips stroked the spot kick into the far corner, out of the reach of Fraser.

The first change of the game was made straight after when Armthorpe took of Farmley who was not happy with this decision and stormed off to the dressing room.

Even though Boro were ahead, the pattern of the game hadn’t changed and it was no surprise when Armthorpe got a deserved equaliser, some awful defending by Boro allowed the ball to find James Walker who easily fired past Reid from close range.

The second half started as the first had finished with the visitors on top, firstly Dave Kemp had to be alert to clear a shot from Armthorpe’s outstanding winger Paul Newton, and then Reid palmed away a shot from Liam Davis, then a free kick was blazed over by Holden.

Boro were producing sporadic attacks, but totally lacked any cutting edge, Joe Connor was brought on for Medcalf, and seemed to bring a calming influence into the midfield, and five minutes after coming on he went on a run which took him past three players, alas his shot was well off target.

After 70 minutes, Boro had a really lucky escape, when the dangerous Holden outpaced Hartas, and sent a left foot shot against the post with Reid well beaten.

Now the game was starting to get a bit stretched, firstly a cross from Boro’s best player on the night Joel Hartley was cleared, then Newton was way off target for Armthorpe, back came Boro and Phillips fired straight at the keeper from a Blott pass, then Blott himself was just off target with a flick header from a Evans cross.

Then with 8 minutes to go, Boro were awarded another penalty, albeit in strange circumstances, Hartley made a great run down the right and his cross found Blott at that back post, his shot was straight at the keeper, but the referee pointed to the spot saying it was a handball by Danny Sharpe, who was stood next to him, and with him being virtually on the line, he was shown a red card. Phillips again stepped up but this time his kick hit the outside of the post and was cleared.

(It later transpires that the referee blamed Armthorpe’s keeper for wearing a shirt that was as dark as the outfield player’s shirts, and it being difficult to tell the difference under floodlights)

Phillips nearly made amends minutes later, when a deep cross from Patrick Miller was headed back across goal by Craig Hogg, he headed over from close range when under pressure.

Despite being down to ten men Armthorpe were still posing lots of problems with Newton on one side and Sibenge on the other causing all sorts of problems, and Boro had some uneasy moments in the seven minutes of injury time before the game ended.

Whether Saturday’s performance had taken its toll is open for debate but this was a really difficult night for Boro against probably the best team to visit Queensgate since our formation.

Boro: Reid, Evans, Miller, Hartas, Kemp (c) (Farthing 84), Ellis, Hartley, Phillips, Blott, Medcalf (Connor 60), Hogg, Goal: Phillips (pen) 34. Booked: Phillips, Blott. Unused Sub: Logan.

Armthorpe Welfare: Fraser, Nelthorpe (Preston 68), Farmley (c) (Sibenge 35), Morley, Sharpe, Buck, Newton, Davis, Holden, Hardy, Walker, Goal: Walker 39. Unused Sub: Dorgan. Booked: Farmley Sent Off: Sharpe.

Attendance: 442.

Referee: T. Peart.