Sherwood Colliery’s fightback falls short at nine-men North Ferriby after poor start

Sherwood's second half fight back fell short in a game in which the home side saw two late red cards.

Manager Wayne Savage said: “We have let ourselves down.

“Fair play to North Ferriby, who started the game superbly.

“But from our point of view we have not been good enough in the opening period.

“We have been second best and gave ourselves far too much to do. Positives are that we did manage to find a way back into the game and played very well in the second half.”

With Jordan Pierrepont suspended, the evergreen Dale Sheppard came into the team in goal, with Carter Widdowson and Ethan Wiesztort also recalled.

The opening 25 minutes were a chastening affair for the second midweek game running.

The Villagers of North Ferriby were quick off the mark and raced into a two-goal lead within seven minutes.

Both goals resulted from corner kicks from the right.

Jack Walters headed home unchallenged in the third minute following a deep ball headed back across goal.

This was followed by a close-range effort from Tom Corner with the Wood unable to deal with the delivery.

Sherwood attempted to clear their heads and Harry Bircumshaw did get an effort on target before Wiesztort fired over, but on 25 minutes another set piece saw then fall 3-0 down.

This time a deep free kick caused more confusion, the ball hitting the post before falling to the impressive Josh Whitley who scored with a fine effort low across Sheppard.

The Wood tried to rally and in fairness Ben Bottomley was kept busy by efforts from Jacob Pearce and Wiesztort, although the saves were comfortable enough.

The deficit was reduced on 42 minutes as Wiesztort capitalised on a defensive mix-up to score low past Bottomley to give the visitors some hope.

The second half saw a change of momentum, the Wood having much more of the ball and controlling the game.

Wiesztort saw a chipped effort from distance drop wide with Bottomley stranded and with Pearce and Bircumshaw ever more influential Sherwood looked in vain for the second goal to set home nerves trembling.

Late in the game home captain Niall Tilsley was given a straight red card for a cynical foul on Craig Mitchell.

Spurred on, the Wood reduced the arrears in the 91st minute, Mitchell scoring from the penalty spot after Jaz Goundry was fouled by Tom Corner, who also saw red following a second yellow card. With only three minutes added there was simply not enough time to find an equalising goal.

Sherwood Colliery Star Man (voted by the supporter’s club) – Jacob Pearce.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​