Ollerton's Safety Confirmed After Glasshoughton Win

Job done. Ollerton Town secured their survival in the NCEL Division One on Saturday after a 1-0 win over Glasshoughton Welfare. Staying in the league was Ollerton's only goal at the start of their debut campaign and to achieve it with three games remaining is a testament to the efforts of the Ollerton players, especially when you consider that they lost their first seven games and were rock bottom of the league table.
On Saturday Ollerton faced a Glasshoughton side that were in a rich vein of form and came into the game on the back of an impressive victory over Hallam FC in midweek but in truth Ollerton were the better of the two sides throughout and they should have really scored one or two more to make the victory that little bit more comfortable.
The Town started the brighter and Sam Dockwray saw his dipping volley saved well before Brandon Shaw headed over a good chance from the resulting corner.
Ollerton 'keeper Scott Gretton was called into action on the half hour mark, getting down well to deny Alan Hayton's long ranged effort before Ollerton's Greg Tobin headed over the bar after being found at the far post.
It was the home side who continued to press and just before half time, Lewis Bingham and Chris Hewitt both saw efforts cleared off the line after finding a way past Glasshoughton 'keeper Jordan Bradshaw.
Given how the first half had gone, it was no surprise that Ollerton took the lead five minutes into the second half. Sam Dockwray picked up the ball in midfield and after charging forward, he played a ball over the top for Lewis Bingham who cut in from the left and bent a shot into the bottom corner, despite Bradshaw getting a hand to it.
Bingham had another chance moments later, cutting inside once again before failing to keep his shot down.
Last season's top goalscorer, Kyle Ludlow, was next to go close for Ollerton. He was put through and hit a powerful half volley that flew just over the bar.
Glasshoughton nearly punished Ollerton for failing to kill them off. A cross from the right found Elliott Williams and his free header forced Gretton into a fine save which preserved Ollerton's lead.
With ten minutes to go Ollerton had a final chance to kill the game off but Mark Carter's flicked header from a Josh Bowkett cross could only find the grateful hands of Bradshaw.
That was to be the last piece of goalmouth action in the game as Ollerton held on for an impressive win which extended their unbeaten run to three games. The only negative from Saturday were injuries picked up by Jordan Schofield and Sam Dockwray with the latter now set to miss the remainder of the season.
Saturday's win moved Ollerton up to sixteenth in the league table and with safety now secured, they will look to use their final three games to finish as high possible, in order to give them a solid platform on which to build next year when they look to avoid the dreaded 'Second Season Syndrome'.