Ollerton End Season With Westella Win!

Ollerton Town secured a satisfying 17th place in their debut season in the Northern Counties East League Division One after they ended the season with a 1-0 victory over already-relegated Westella & Willerby.
Ollerton's aim at the start of the season was always to secure their survival, and after losing their first seven games, Ollerton will have been delighted to finish where they did, above some respected and experienced Northern Counties teams.
Saturday's game was far from a classic and Ollerton were not at their best but in the end, Kyle Ludlow's fifty-second minute goal was enough to seperate the two sides meaning Ollerton made the long journey home with three points.
As has been the case for the last few weeks, Ollerton Manager Dave Winter was forced into fielding a mismatched side with some players acting as square pegs in round holes. As a result, it took sometime for the Town to get going in the game and it was Westella who had the afternoon's first chance, Alex Wood going through on the right and seeing a low shot saved well by the feet of Scott Gretton in the Ollerton goal.
Ollerton First Team Coach, Jamie Allan, was playing his last game for the club after over 150 appearances and he nearly played a crucial role in putting his side ahead. He played a long ball over the top which had the Westella defence beaten and after Chris Hewitt raced clear, he could only fire just wide of the post.
Hewitt was proving to be a thorn in the side of Westella and he had two good opportunities denied well by Westella 'keeper Lewis Exall, the first after a good passing move and the second following a good run into the area.
Ollerton were enjoying a good period of pressure but towards the end of the half, Westella had two good chances from freekicks. Alex Wood took both from the left hand side of the area and Gretton did well to hold the first attempt before doing brilliantly to tip the second onto the post.
Despite a general lack of quality on the whole, the first half went by quite quickly and thankfully within minutes of the restart, Ollerton took the lead. Westella saw a shot cleared off the line by Tom Cooke and after Ollerton broke, Hewitt saw a header parried away but Josh Dodd was on hand to pick up the rebound and he played the ball across the area to Kyle Ludlow who swept the ball into the bottom corner.
Both sides were creating chances and on another day, either side could have scored three or four. For Ollerton, Kyle Ludlow saw a good chance saved whilst at the other end, Gretton had to be at this best to deny Danny Walker after a defensive mix-up.
Westella's main threat was coming from wide with Gretton being forced into dealing with several tricky crosses whilst Lewis Bingham had a chance to wrap the game up but failed to beat Exall after being played through by Shannon.
In the end, Ludlow's twelfth of the season proved to be the difference as Ollerton ended the season on a high. They will now start looking ahead to next season and building on their respectable finish. Saturday's opponents will actually be a warning for Ollerton as Westella were relegated after their second season in the NCEL. With Ollerton's debut campaign now over, they will look to do all they can to avoid suffering from the dreaded 'Second Season Syndrome'.