FOLLOWING THE SALTMEN

The afternoon started on a sombre note with all 228 present joining in a minute’s applause for club founder, Nick Duggan, who passed away in October.

Another good afternoon at the coalface for the Saltmen sees them stretch their lead at the top of the table to nine points. Although the final score makes the game look extremely one-sided, the first half was certainly not all one way traffic. In fact, up until Josh Hurdman’s excellent strike from the corner of the penalty box just before halftime it was Southam who could conceivably opened the scoring. A bit of good fortune, the top of the crossbar and some timely interventions from Joe Neeson, deputising for Dom Rogerson in the Spa goal, kept Spa on an equal footing.

If points were awarded for the creation of half chances Droitwich would have been home and hosed within the first half hour. Southam defended well and repelled attacks from both flanks and the harder they tried the less likely Spa looked like scoring. While approach play was neat and incisive, the ball would not fall kindly for hitman Alex Dugmore or returning skipper James Lemon. Finally, as halftime approached, Josh Hurdman dispelled some of the growing frustration with a great strike from distance which dipped into the top corner of the Southam goal and the deadlock was broken.

More magic words from Andy Crowther did the trick during the break and the second half was mostly one way traffic, towards the Southam goal! Spa began to dominate possession. The gradual introduction of replacements between goals, re-energised the team and the pressure was converted into 2 further goals for Josh Hurdman, completing his hat trick, and 1 for Alex Dugmore.

Good solid performances from the whole team. It was particularly good to see Josh Hurdman complete his hat trick after what must have been a frustrating first 30 minutes. He kept going when some may have cursed their luck and disappeared. Special mention to the ever industrious Nathan Binner who never stopped running and was part of just about everything Spa did today.

Credit should also go to Southam, whose performance belied their league position. They proved a tough nut to crack, never stopped looking for openings and were the width of a crossbar away from taking the lead. A number of higher placed clubs have visited Kingys this season but Southam ranked as one of the better sides. Good luck to them for the rest of the season.

Next up, our trip to step five Ashby Ivanhoe in the FA Vase. It would be great to take as much support as possible up the M42 for that one. Hope to see you there.

Cheers

Steve

Photo credits: Andy Shaw https://www.facebook.com/andy.shaw.1600