A dominant display from the Y&E saw them take a convincing 4-0 win against Sunderland West End.
The lads had been in good run of form coming on to the game and were looking to continue the momentum from the late two goals scored against Park View. Following on from this Jacko selected Dan Jones and Sam Conway up front after they combined well against Park View. There was a couple of other changes, with Ethan Jones back in defence and Joe Hillerby in midfield. We lined up with Callum in goal, the Daltons at wing back, Jack on the right and Joe on the left. In the middle of defence Ross Harrison, Ethan and Leo. In midfield Harry Stewart Titchner and Hillers. Up front target man Dan Jones, with Sam Conway and Marshy playing off him. On the bench Cam Wild, Joe Scaiffe Wheatley, Foz Garton, Alex Dougall and Adam Groom.
We got off to a decent start, with an HST free kick tipped wide by Coulson in the West End goal. Dan Jones was making his presence felt up front and we had the ball in the back of the net which was ruled out due to a foul by Jonesy. Sam Conway also had an effort deflected wide after HST and Marshy linked up well. We took the lead on 17 minutes, a long ball from the right (Ethan Jones I think) and their defender controlled it well, dropping it in to the path of Joe Dalton who made no mistake with a trademark Dalts finish, curling it far post in to the corner of the net. West End came back in to it after we took the lead, but we were well in control. Dalts nearly got a second on 32 minutes with a header over the bar from an HST corner.
Another HST corner and a header blocked and rebound skied over. West End had good break, but we won the ball and a superb counter attack, passing the ball through midefield, before an Ethan Jones cross and Dalts had another header well saved. We were winning set pieces and HST was in his element, a free kick from him nearly sneaking in, this was followed by another free kick which fell to Marshy but his shot was saved. As we approached half time a West End player went in the book, after pushing over Marshy. A cracking first half, we had played well and set pieces had been a real danger. We were still only one goal up, which meant the visitors had a chance of getting back in to the game.
Second half and West End started quite brightly, Benali on their left hand side had been their best player first half and he started the second well, with a run down the right before cutting inside & launching his effort over the bar. On 54 minutes their captain Ash Davis took down HST, but no foul was given. A couple of minutes later we were defending a corner and Davis elbowed Ross Harrison and was shown a straight red. No arguments there. The West End 4 had a few words and was cautioned and sent to the sin bin. We ere up against 9 men now. We made a sub, with Dougs on for Ethan. We used the numerical advantage, and nearly scored our second, Sam Conway rattling the bar. Jonesy had the ball in the net shortly after but he was well offside. Sam Conway with another effort well saved, after and HST cross was chested down by Jonesy. The chances were coming thick and fast, HST with an effort with outside his boot rattling the bar, rebound to Sam Conway but he could only head wide.
Minutes later on 67 minutes, we finally got the second. Dan Jones was the man, HST with a superb cross, met by Jonesy who controlled well and then Boom, launched a ferocious shot from close range in the roof of the net. Nothing more than Jonesy deserved. We made a couple more changes with Scaiffe on for Hillers and Groomy on for Marshy, with Dalts moving up to the number 10 role. On 76 minutes another superb HST cross, headed down by Jonesy to Sam Conway who found himself in acres f space to score his second goal in two games. Burying it in the bottom corner. Foz came on for Leo and Jonesy came off for Cam Wild. We got our fourth in stoppage time, Joe Dalton with his second of the game, Sam Conway down the right, cuts back inside and floats a lovely cross to Dalts, who heads home. There was still time for Dalts to nearly grab his hat trick, a ball from the right back area from Foz, Dalts breaks through, and beats the keeper, but he was ruled out for offside. Northern League VAR aka Veo showed it as being onside, but as we all know, the officials don’t get everyone right. Morally it goes down as a Dalts hat trick.
West End were hampered by the red card. They had started the second half well, and losing their 6 to a red card and the 4 to a sin bin, really scuppered their chances and the Y&E capitalised on this. Best of luck to them for the rest of the season and we look forward to our trip back the Ford Hub in late February.
A superb display from the Y&E. Our best first half display for a while and we should have been at least two goals up. Their keeper played well first half and some of our ste pieces were outstanding. Jonesy and Sam Conway were excellent up front and we were confutable at the back. HST ran the show again. All in all a cracking evening for the Y&E.