FOLLOWING THE SALTMEN

Droitwich Spa 1 – 2 Abingdon United

For the second time this season Spa had their pockets picked by those rascals from the Northcott. Back in September, United scored deep into injury time to ensure the spoils were shared. In the return fixture, they finished the job off and took all three points.

It was very much a case of “after the Lord Mayor’s Show” at Kingys on Saturday. The astonishing events at Redditch earlier in the week cast a shadow over proceedings. However, it didn’t prevent the Saltmen starting the game brightly. In a first half dominated by the home side, clear cut chances were at a premium. Plenty of neat, patient approach play presented several half chances for Spa but none could be converted, with Abingdon’s admirably hirsute goalkeeper Cavanagh remaining largely untroubled. That was until the 39th minute when a hopefully hoisted ball into the box was misjudged by the bewhiskered custodian; the ball bounced over him and who else but league leading scorer Alex Dugmore was at hand to thread the ball between two covering defenders, putting Spa one up.

Abingdon had created little in attack and, as we enjoyed our half time refreshments, everything looked set for a fairly comfortable late afternoon.

The second half got underway and while Spa enjoyed plenty of possession, there was no killer final ball. Nathan Binner came closest to extending the lead on 59 minutes but his visciously whipped free kick had just a fraction too much curl and hit the near side netting.

Spa then made what I assume was a tactical substitution that I don’t fully understand. Josh Hurdman, who had been unable to influence the game in the way he would have liked, was replaced by Kyon Evans who took on the central striker role. In turn, this moved Alex Dugmore into Josh’s wide position. Now, anyone who reads these pages regularly will realise I am a huge Duggers fan. For me, he is the epitome of all that is great about non-league football. The way in which he switched from centre back to centre forward when the team was down to bear bones, late last season, has been an absolute joy to watch. To then go on to record a goal per game record, this season, has been even better. But I don’t think his strengths lie as a winger. And it didn’t work!

I would love to know the thinking behind this switch. Kyon played well and linked nicely with his teammates but why remove the threat posed by your proven goalscorer, particularly with Perry Moss unavailable? If Josh was injured then why not replace him with Jack Davies or Matt Fusco and move Nathan Binner into Josh’s wide attacking role?

Anyway, as the game went on, Abingdon began looking more threatening and moving the ball forward at every opportunity. In the 82nd minute a high ball into the box drew Spa keeper Joe Stockton and in challenging for the ball was judged to have infringed. It looked harsh from our position 90 yards away, behind the Canal End goal but I would grudgingly admit that the referee probably had a better view than FTS. The resulting penalty was dispatched and the scores were level.

A fairly frantic last ten minutes followed until the visitors were awarded what again looked a very soft free kick. Spa were unable to clear the subsequent high ball into the box and the United player manager bagged a winner and consigned Spa to a second defeat of the season.

The defeat was not the biggest surprise. There was bound to be a hangover from Tuesday nights memorable win at Redditch and Abingdon are a decent team who are almost certain to make the playoffs if they don’t win the league outright.

From a Spa perspective, we have played 3 consecutive games against top 5 opponents, and come away with 6 points from a possible 9. The rest of the season involves a lot of travel to away games, none of which are gimmes, so there’s a lot of work still to do. Nevertheless, if someone had come to me and suggested the Saltmen would be 8 points clear after 21 games then I would have bitten their arm off (figuratively, of course).

Keep the faith!

Cheers

Steve