A perfect away display at Maltby Main sends Sherwood Colliery third

Sherwood Colliery moved up to third place in the NCEL Premier Division following an impressive away performance and 3-0 victory at Maltby Main on Saturday, writes Phil Kirkland.
Brad Newby - two goals for Sherwood Colliery in Saturday's win at Maltby.Brad Newby - two goals for Sherwood Colliery in Saturday's win at Maltby.
Brad Newby - two goals for Sherwood Colliery in Saturday's win at Maltby.

On a very heavy pitch coupled with swirling rain and opponents buoyed by two successive wins, the Wood produced the perfect away display.

But the start to the day was not without drama as, for the second game running Sherwood had to make a late change to the starting XI, Tim Gregory the unlucky player and Brad Newby elevated to the team.

The Wood started the game aided by the slope.

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Three minutes in, Jobe Shaw delivered the ball into the penalty area, but it evaded both Will Norcross and Gareth Curtis.

This was followed by Jamie York trying an effort from range that was easily saved by Owen Evans in the Maltby goal.

Sherwood should really have taken the lead on 17 minutes, Newby delivering a good ball from the left that Ryan Ingram met well, only to see his header go just wide.

After showing little in attack on 25 minutes Maltyb’s in-form Jonathan Williams’ shot was deflected wide. From the corner Wood keeper Dale Sheppard had to make an excellent save, blocking a fierce shot by Jonathan Hill.

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Maltby were having what proved to be their best spell of the game.

However, 34 minutes in Sherwood seemed to get their composure back winning a corner kick to relieve the pressure and a counter-attack led by Shaw and York played in Ingram, who opted to cross the ball rather than shooting and the ball was cleared.

The last action of the half saw a free kick for Maltby headed harmlessly over and the teams headed for the interval all square.

The second half started superbly for the Wood, who took the lead after 48 minutes. The attack came down the left-hand side, Curtis found space and played a superb ball to Newby in the penalty area, and he drilled the ball across Evans to score.

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Two minutes later, a good move saw Ewan Robson’s cross just evading the inrushing Ingram with the goal gaping.

On the hour, Norcross beating the offside trap to sprint clear and rather than taking the ball around Evans, he opted to shoot only for Evans to save.

Newby twice fired over and Maltby were not really threatening, despite the introduction of three substitutes.

And on 79 minutes the visitors doubled the lead. Norcross drove forward against an exposed defence, his ball found Curtis who advanced into the penalty area, and his shot beat Evans only to hit the post. However, Norcross had continued his run and tapped the ball into the empty net.

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With five minutes left Newby found himself clear on goal and, with options to cross the ball, he took the option to shoot low past Evans to seal the three points.

They almost added a fourth after 89 minutes, Newby finding Ingram who checked back onto his left foot only to see Evans redeem himself with a good save, tipping the ball around the post.