Mellor Firsts 4-2 Tintwistle Firsts

Match report provided by Craig Fairfield:

Mellor First Team faced their second real examination in as many weeks, this time welcoming in form Tintwistle to Newhall Green. Tintwistle felt they deserved more but were left reeling thanks to missed chances and some heroics in goal from an inspired Kevin Cooney.

This was a game of fine margins, and from Mellor’s point of view it doesn’t matter how fine the margin, it’s the three points that count, however, one Tintwistle fan was quoted as saying “we were robbed today” which gives you both sides of the story.

Tintwistle will have felt they deserved more but winning big games is about being clinical and Mellor were certainly more clinical.

The management team of Dalby and Beer opted to start this game with the same back 5 that had started the heroic win of the previous week, which meant regular center back Mark Oldham was rotated to the bench where he was joined by Rob Crossley, Bruce Clarke and Ben Beer.

New boy Liam Miller started, making his debut in center midfield alongside Chris Corum and Dom Randle returning to the side after a week’s unauthorised leave.

Jonny Cooke and Joe Dalby completed the midfield with the latter moving back out to wide right, Liam McAuley completed the line up starting the game in his regular role up front having returned from a mid season break.

The game started with Tintwistle showing their intent straight from the off, working an opportunity straight from Kick Off. Tintwistle were set up very similar to Mellor, opting for five through the midfield and looking to press and not allow any space in which to play, with Mellor looking a little leggy in the opening exchanges Tintwistle seemed to be able to win the ball and retain possession far easier than Mellor.

On 5 minutes Tintwistle forced a free kick in a dangerous position just outside the Mellor box, the initial kick found the Mellor wall, but the ball broke down to the Tintwistle left back who played it back into the box, where had it not been for a superbly timed last ditch challenge from Paul Swann, Tintwistle would have been certain to score.** Caine Harrold was hurt in the build up and had to come off injured.

Bruce Clarke replaced the Harrold in a straight swap taking up the right back role.

Ten minutes in and Mellor’s defense had been the busier with Swann and Whelan both making key interceptions on more than one occasion preventing certain good chances on the Mellor goal.

On twelve minutes Tintwistle were in again this time forcing a corner, the corner was whipped in but the excellent Cooney plucked the ball out of the air and instantly released McAuley who did the hard bit in bringing the ball under control but was unable to capitalize on the chance.

Although it was Cooney who made the next save in the game, Mellor were now starting to find their feet and began to enjoy their best spell of the game so far.

This improved spell was underlined by the tempo set by Mellor’s midfield as they started to hunt in packs and impose themselves on the game with some solid challenges and exquisite passing, the pinnacle of which a raking cross field pass from Corum to Dalby who with the amount of time available would have expected to do better.

Although Mellor were now competing and enjoying the better possession, they were still guilty of lacking in the final third.

McAuley has been unplayable at times in previous weeks, but having squandered two chances already it did not appear to be his day when another long ball from Cooney on the half hour mark fell kindly, only for the Mellor hit man to fire high and wide when it looked odds on he would score.

Mellor continued to win the ball back and play comfortably until the final third, the final ball however seemed to allude the men in Blue, this caused increasing frustration in the camp and players started to become inpatient, this impatience lead to a break down in shape with players guilty at times of trying to do too many jobs and not just concentrating on their own.

The Deadlock was then broken, ten minutes before half time a long hopeful ball into the box from the Tintwistle right winger somehow caused a breakdown in communication between Whelan and Corum, leaving the Tintwistle striker free to bring the ball under control and slot home past a stranded Cooney for 0-1.

The goal rattled Mellor who all of a sudden seemed way off the pace of the game, Tintwistle sensed this and applied more pressure, working a great chance in the left hand channel but luckily for Mellor Cooney showed why he is considered the top keeper in the league by pulling off a wonder save to keep the game at 0-1.

In the build up to the Tintwistle chance Bruce Clarke picked up a knock with the substitute having to leave the field injured for Mellor’s second forced change of the game, Crossley replacing Clarke with Dalby dropping in at right back and Crossley going on the right wing.

The game became quite scrappy with Tintwistle desperate to get in at half time with their lead in tact started to concede territory, Mellor desperate to score before half time piled men forward, and it was this ambition that lead to the equalizer.

Great Mellor pressure on the right lead to the ball falling to an advanced David Dunne on the stroke of half time, the left back only had one intention when picking the ball up and that was to drive at the opposition net, the tricky defender jinxing inside off the right flank onto his left foot, before unleashing a Zeus like thunder bolt into the top corner from 35 yards for 1-1. Half Time.

The Second half had hardly got going when Tintwistle found themselves ahead again, another mix up in the Mellor defense this time saw Paul Swann inadvertently score an own goal following a missed catch by Cooney, the Mellor skipper opted to try head the ball over the bar only to find the back of his own net for 1-2, it was an excellent ball in from down the Mellor left but the keeper and skipper would usually expect to do better.

Five minutes later Mellor clawed themselves back on level terms for the second time in the match, good build up play through the midfield lead to the ball being fed out to Crossley on the right, the winger beat his man and whipped an excellent ball round the back to McAuley who showing all his strength and experience at the back post, got to the ball first and drew the penalty from the opposition defender, Whelan Calmly stepped up to score the spot kick.

A Minute later and Mellor were in dream land, again good work from the midfield then saw a raking pass out to Cooke on the left who with his first moment of real quality showed impeccable technique to kill the ball dead, cut inside to beat his man and then slide the ball square for Miller who calmly finished from 18 yards into the right of the net across the keeper for 3-2.

Tintwistle were shell shocked but quickly rallied and started to really probe Mellor’s defense. Seven minutes after Mellor had gone ahead, Tintwistle had a chance to equalize, when a goalmouth scramble saw a Tintwistle player hacked down for a penalty.

The Tintwistle sub stepped up but failed to beat Cooney with a soft effort low to the keepers right, it was a routine save for Cooney who seemed to have the edge over the penalty taker from the second he picked up the ball.

The game was becoming much more open with Miller and Randle having numerous chances to play balls into McAuley with neither managing the final killer pass, Cooke was also more involved in the game now working tirelessly up and down the left flank in tandem with the excellent Dunne.

The game continued in much the same way with Mellor defending well to keep a lively Tintwistle at bay but struggling in the final third.

With 20 minutes remaining Dalby decided to shut up shop swapping Crossley for Oldham who dropped in at Sweeper.

Tintwistle also made a double change, taking off arguably their most threatening player, this didn’t affect Tintwistle though who continued to put Mellor’s back 5 under immense pressure.

With twenty minutes remaining Tintwistle were rewarded for their pressure and awarded a second penalty of the game, this time a long ball from the Tintwistle keeper who had been excellent all day with his distribution, caused mayhem in the Mellor defense, the Mellor players failed to clear their lines and when the ball broke to the tricky Tintwistle wide man, any contact was surely going to lead to a penalty, and that it did, a soft challenge from Dalby sending the Tintwistle wide man flying as if he had been shot, but, the ref bought it and awarded the penalty.

It was time for Cooney to shine, the Mellor keeper looked confident, even though Tintwistle changed their taker Cooney still looked in total control of the situation, the experienced goalie showed the right hand side of his net to the striker and the Tintwistle player took the bait, as the ball was struck Cooney was moving to his left however like a coiled python sprung in the opposite direction to save low to his right this time the penalty was struck with much more pace and accuracy but it still wasn’t enough to beat Mellor’s Mercurial number one.

This clearly buoyed Mellor and although Tintwistle continued their long ball assault Mellor’s defense stood firm with Oldham displaying how the sweeper role should be correctly executed, mopping up anything Swann and Whelan missed.

With 2 minutes of normal time remaining Mellor sealed the victory, Jonny Cooke who had enjoyed a much better second half received the ball from midfield, the wide man then showed real guile and stamina at such a late moment in the game, knocking the ball passed the outside of the Tintwistle right back beating his man and then poking home passed the keeper for 4-2 a goal of real quality.

Mellor defended stoutly for the remainder of the game to see out the victory, which leaves them in a strong league position going into Cheshire cup week.

This certainly wasn’t one of Mellor’s best performances but as it’s been said before winning is a habit and Mellor just seem to have the habit of winning even when they are not at their best.

**Certain to score does not take into account Kevin Cooney.

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