Davyhulme Park Vs AFC Didsbury (22/04/15 - Broadway Park, Urmston)

Davyhulme Park 5
AFC Didsbury 1

AFC Didsbury: Mike Stiff, Liam Hadfield (Jonny Owen), Paul Johnson, Matt Kennedy (Ciaran Bermingham), Ben Jaffray, Gareth Lee, Tom Whiteley (Pete Kilgour), Jorge García García (Tega Ighofose), Rick Peat, Ross Menghini, Mike Corbett (Gareth New).

Goals: García García
Assists: Corbett
Man of the Match: Peat

Davyhulme Dismantle Didsbury

In football momentum is everything, which is very unfortunate as at this very moment AFC Didsbury have none!

Despite it being a Wednesday night it was most definitely a Sunday League start to events with Ciaran Bermingham racking up the fines having forgotten all his kit, starting -£5 Bermo would have to make some impression on the game to come back from that.

AFC Didsbury have a fair few players in the physio room at the moment but were still able to put out a solid starting 11 utilising (injured) ‘star’ striker Matt Kennedy’s school boy past as a defender, pairing him with Paul Johnson to create a partnership to rival the pace QPR’s Richard Dunne and Clint Hill.

It was a gamble that didn’t pay off! No sooner had Kennedy put down his ‘Guide to defending’ by David Luiz was he turned inside out by the small nippy players almost straight from kick off. This was a sign of things to come as Didsbury failed to wake up and find the energy levels that could match those of the Davyhulme players.

In the first 10 minutes I was reminded of Téa Leoni on the beach in Deep Impact as the tidal wave of orange kept coming forward creating chance after chance for Davyhulme, but they needn’t have worried as a combination of the opposition forwards not being able to score in a proverbial brothel and stand-in keeper Mike Stiff rolling out some quality saves. In fact for all their pressure they had to wait for a contentious penalty decision to take the lead. One of the hefty square players sending Stiff the wrong way.

Didsbury came back almost immediately from a Corbett corner with a lovely flicked header from Jorge ‘The Matador’ García García at the near post, much to the excitement of Manager Adam Musson. The goal kicked Didsbury into a very good 2 maybe 3 minute spell until the Téa Leoni feeling re-emerged! Didsbury going behind once more this time to an own goal from Kennedy as he tried to deflect a shot over the bar but only managed to send Stiff the wrong way with a beautifully guided header from his luscious thick curly locks.

The home side scored a 3rd goal on the break as a manic period of play came to an end 5 minutes before half time. At this point Kennedy and Whiteley were substituted.

There was time for Davyhulme to score a goal described by John Battersby as ‘The worst goal we’ve conceded all season’. At this point I should point out that this is from our point of view! Despite the home teams two left feet earlier in the game they did everything right to put this one away after a break down the right side of a lack lustre defence. Half Time whistle was blown much to the relief of the Didsbury players.

Kilgour, Bermingham and Ighofose gave Didsbury some fresh legs in the second half as the away side started to get back into the game and ask the opposition defence some questions. Didsbury were showing more aggression/hunger this half lead by the ever twitchy New and the ever starving Bermingham. Bermingham finally making his impression on the game with a Gaelic hack at the winger earning him a yellow and completing an expensive game for him.

With some nice play between Peat, Lee, Kilgour and Menghini paired with the running of Ighofose meant Didsbury were able to create some half chances and keep Davyhulme in their own half for much of the second half. With this massive improvement in play it was disappointing to concede a further goal late on from another counter attack; a shanked clearance from Stiff sending the ball high in the air on the edge of his own area, which after a bit of pin ball on its landing found its way to a player in Orange for an easy finish into an open net.

With only 3 fixtures left and 2 of those against the undefeated Hulme Didsbury must win the return fixture to avoid the season that promised so much fizzling out in the wake of injuries and some uncharacteristic performances.

Words by Matt Kennedy

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