Ollerton Fight Back to Hold Promotion Favourites

In a game in which Ollerton were large underdogs and widely expected to lose, a dominant second half performance ensured that they were able to split the points and continue their unbeaten October.

Yorkshire Amateur started off the game as the brighter team but the first chance came the way of Ollerton when a cross field ball from Kyle Clarkson found Brandon Shaw who cut the ball inside to Gav King who fired just over. In spite of this early effort, Yorkshire Amateurs went on to have quite a dominant spell which started with Lewis Pickering’s well struck low effort which was turned wide by Ryan Brooks. Daniel Maw couldn’t properly connect with the ball when he was put through on goal and Brooks was once again called into action as a delicate through ball from Fernando Moke set Harry Blakey through on goal but Brooks once again came out on top.

The breakthrough for Yorkshire Amateur was looking inevitable but Yorkshire Amateur keeper Graham McLachlan blundered, misjudging the speed of the ball and rushing out of his goal too early to be able to claim the ball, providing Gav King with an open goal which gave Ollerton an unlikely lead against the run of play. King’s opener seemed to give Ollerton far more confidence and the pressing from the Ollerton front line and midfield really didn’t allow Yorkshire Amateur to get out of their own half and Ollerton really looked to be asserting some control over proceedings.

In a similar fashion to Gav King’s opener, Fernando Moke’s long range effort which found the bottom right corner came completely against the run of play and left Brooks with no chance of stopping the shot. Yorkshire Amateur quickly added to this goal as prolific striker Ashley Flynn, who up until this point had little influence on the game, was able to round Brooks and slot into an open net to give 'The Ammas' the lead at the end of the first half.

Ollerton started the second half off far more positively than they ended the first as a barrage of long range efforts from Kyle Clarkson and Ben Bowring troubled McLachlan as well as an audacious chip from Lewis Bingham which sailed just wide of the visitors goal. Ollerton were also unfortunate to not be awarded a penalty as Gav King appeared to be taken down by Lincoln Adams but the referee waved play on.

Ollerton were then made to pay in the 67th minute for not being clinical enough in front of goal as they were caught in possession in their defensive third and Harry Blakey was able to convert with a low strike to make it 3-1 to Yorkshire Amateur to seemingly put the game to bed.

Ollerton continued to push Yorkshire Amateur back but didn’t move the ball up to their forwards quickly enough and didn’t find success until they adopted a more direct approach. In the 75th minute a long ball over the top found Ash Shannon who with his back to goal was able to loop the ball over McLachlan and give Ollerton a route back into the game and score his first competitive goal for the club in the process.

Ten minutes later, the come back was complete. A quick throw in from Brandon Shaw to Shannon caught the Yorkshire Amateur defence off guard and Shannon was able to cut the ball back for in form striker Gav King to convert at the back post score his 6th goal in his last 5 games.

Shortly after Gav King’s equaliser, Chris Hitchin was controversially sent off after a scuffle with Ash Shannon which wasn’t at all well received by the visitors. Ollerton were almost able to make their man advantage pay dividends as Lewis Bingham was sent in behind the Yorkshire Amateur defence but unfortunately slipped at the crucial moment.

Both teams tired late on and the game eventually petered out to a 3-3 draw. Overall, Ollerton will be satisfied with an unexpected point at home to high flying Yorkshire Amateur and to make it 4 games unbeaten in all competitions, especially after being two goals down with just over twenty minutes to play.

Report by William Lavelle.