West Yorkshire Premier League First Team 0 - 1 Knaresborough Town
Sherburn suffered their first defeat of the season away at the strongly fancied Knaresborough Town.
Knaresborough playing 3 5 2 (a change to the way they played last season) took Sherburn by surprise who set up to play against their usual 4 4 2. Knaresborough began the game the better team, whilst Sherburn began slow and could not get a foot hold what so ever (Sherburn only arrived at the match 30 mins before kick off due to the large volume of traffic around the Leeds festival, whilst this was not a sufficient excuse for the poor start but it was significant).
For the first 30 minutes Sherburn were all over the place defensively, but fortunately Knaresborough did not have the quality to capitalise on the opportunities created - they struggled to hit the target at all. In the last 15 mins of the half Sherburn began to get 2 v 1 situations on their wingbacks with Sherburn pushing the full backs on to join in, but Sherburn could not get enough bodies into the box to finish from good crosses especially from Williams. After the only decent passage of play Scott Williams was unlucky to only hit the post and Lee Gemmell failed to convert the rebound. It is fair to say if Sherburn were playing against a side who could finish, the game would have been over at half time.
Sherburn started better in the second half but could only create long range efforts, Wainwright and Gemmell making the goal keeper work. As bad as Sherburn were Knaresborough hardly threatened Simon Hudson in goal and they never got in behind the defence from open play in the early stages of the half. As Sherburn probed, a counter attack from the opposition lead to their goal; Sherburn had lost their shape and they scored at the far post.
Middleton playing his first game this season was brought on for Sherburn and was the spark needed to change the game. His positive attitude in possession was pleasing and he created chances for himself which their goal keeper had to deal with. With the best chance of the half he beat the keeper from 25 yards only for a defender who had made an excellent covering run to clear the ball of the line.
In the end though Sherburn failed to equalise and manager Nick Peacock commented:
"This was the worst performance collectively since I have been at this club. We played better at Knaresborough last season and lost 3-1. The only positive I can take from this performance, as annoyed and disappointed as I am, is that we only lost 1-0 against a team highly fancied to do well this season and could have salvaged a point."
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West Yorkshire Alliance Division 1 Reserves 0 - 1 Whitkirk Wanderers
Following two very heavy defeats from Whitkirk last season the reserves were poised for an afternoon of defending, but Sherburn made a dominant start and kept the ball with ease. Sherburn's back four coped easily with Whitkirk's attacks and only a goal mouth scramble ten minutes from half time threatened to break Sherburn's defence. Both Haddock and Limbert had plenty of possession down both wings but good service to Withington and Jordan up front was lacking. Sherburn's main chance of taking the lead came just before half time when Ryan Hudson towered at the back post from Haddock's corner to head the ball back across goal for Withington to put his header over under pressure from the Whitkirk centre half.
Sherburn went in at half time the stronger side and believing they could claim all three points. Whitkirk made some changes to their personnel and came out trying to reassert themselves as the stronger side and began to control the game immediately. Sherburn began to sit back deeper and deeper until a clumsy shot from the Whitkirk number nine passed under Richard Collins' sliding tackle and then deflected off Hudson's own attempt to block before beating Quirk in goal. Whitkirk tried to rouse themselves with the goal but it was the home team who raised the tempo and began to pin Whitkirk to their own half. An equaliser looked on the cards when Haddock was left one on one with the keeper only to see his shot saved and his rebound narrowly soar over the bar. There was a claim for a handball in the box as Withington's cross was blocked, and substitute Jamie Potter found himself linking with right back Chris Parnaby repeatedly, but again the final ball was either delayed or lacking in enough quality to threaten.
Beaston was brought on to try and add some more width but despite dominating Sherburn were unable to equalise. Whitkirk were thrilled to hold on to the win and despite the reserves' disappointment, it is clear that a much improved season is on the cards.
Notable praise went to the back four and Chris Parnaby especially at full back. Steven Wainwright also played well after a reasonably quiet first half. Potter also made a difference when brought on.
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