FOLLOWING THE SALTMEN

Saturday 16 November 2024,

Hellenic League Division One

If bookies took bets on step 6 games you would have probably got decent long odds on a victory for the visiting Sods of Chipping Sodbury. And, ultimately the bookies would have been right, with the Saltmen consolidating their position at the top of the table. However, the scoreline doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story.

In this game there were periods in which the visitors dominated lengthy passages of play, belying their lowly league position. They created a number of promising openings and were it not for some good work by Dom Rogerson in the Spa goal and some stout last ditch defending, the Sods could well have taken the lead. Some wayward finishing and an inability to find that killer final ball frustrated the visitors during the first period. It was a similar story for Droitwich who had numerous half-chances created by Josh Hurdman and Jack Brighton down the right and Lewis Phillips, Perry Moss and Nathan Binner on the left side but the ball would not fall kindly for skipper James Lemon. The deadlock was finally broken in the 18th minute when free-scoring Josh Hurdman collected a sublime through ball which split the Sods’ defence, rounded Maggs in the Sods goal, and made no mistake with the finish. The Sods did not lose heart after this setback, as some visitors have, and continued to make life difficult for the hosts. Where others have folded on going behind to Spa, the Sods continued to defend stoutly, throwing everything in the way of the Saltmen’s advances.

The second period opened with the visitors take control of the game and on 60 minutes they deservedly levelled the scores thanks to a smart strike from Towler whose free kick from outside the box beat the wall and Rogerson for 1-1.

In the build up to the game Spa manager Andy Crowther had to shuffle his team selection to accommodate for the loss of three central defenders and a defensive midfielder. This meant that the world’s leading goalscorer, Alex Dugmore needed to start in the back four with skipper Lemon moving to the centre of the front line. In response to the Sods equaliser, Duggers returned to leading the forward line and immediately started to make a nuisance of himself. However, it took until the 82nd minute for Spa to regain the lead when James Lemon converted a Josh Hurdman cross from close range. Centre back turned striker turned centre back turned striker Dugmore was thwarted by some brave goalkeeping by Maggs but, with 20 goals so far this season, Duggers would not be denied forever. On 90 minutes, he collected a poor goal kick, bore down on goal and beat the on-rushing Maggs to register Spa’s third of the afternoon.

A final score of 3-1 may do a disservice to a Chipping Sodbury side who gave everything in their efforts. It just goes to show how open this league is.

My nomination for man of the match would be Jack Davies who gave a Stakhanovite effort in protecting the back four and initiating a number of dangerous moves with his probing passes. Special mention should also be given for the three under 18s players who stepped up to the first team and again showed how promising the future looks for the Saltmen.

Spa maintained their six point lead at the top of the table in front of a crowd of 252, comfortably the highest gate in the Hellenic league Division 1 and Premier.

Next up, a trip to Tytherington Rocks on Saturday who, despite sounding like a late 80s Hard Rock festival, are actually a decent side.

See you there.

Cheers

Steve