|
The first win still eludes us
The PNE coaching staff were all familiar to us, consisting of Hoyland, Ramsdale and Finch and there were two surprising faces alongside our duo with Kevan and Davis making a rare appearance.
The first half was quite even with Burnley putting together some good play, although they were let down far too often by the final ball into the box. PNE created by far the best chances with their right winger putting over two quality crosses which the striker should have made a better connection with.
The visitors were the first on the scoresheet though as they capitalised on some scrappy play in the middle of the park and broke away, outpacing the defence and clipping over keeper Jon Sergeant. We just couldn't make any significant headway despite having the benefit of a stiff breeze behind our backs.
As the half wound down we got into the box and some tricky footwork by Ali Akbar drew a foul and won us a penalty. Jay Rodriguez stepped up and, despite a firm hand from the keeper, the ball trickled along the line and bounced in off the post.
The second half saw much of the same. PNE continued to makes chances while we fought on. We did look more like scoring in the half though, with both Rob Turner and Connor Smith unlucky with shots.
The game almost exploded with around a quarter of an hour to go however, due to a combination of ineptitude by the ref and attempted gamesmanship by one of the PNE centre halves. A clean challenge by Rodriguez on the No. 6 saw the opposing player scream and hit the deck, rolling around. He decided the ref was going to do nothing and so sprang to his feet. The ref though chose this moment to blow his whistle to allow treatment to be administered.
Our lads went mad as the ref showed he got it wrong. In his defence I could clearly hear him shout ‘I made a mistake' but continued dissent saw a lecture for Smith and a card for Rodriguez.
Our lads went mad as the ref showed he got it wrong. In his defence I could clearly hear him shout ‘I made a mistake' but continued dissent saw a lecture for Smith and a card for Rodriguez.
The game restarted with a drop ball and the two players kicked the ball once and each other more. Players piled in, punches may have been thrown, and the outcome was one yellow to Smith. The ref had no idea what was going on.
Our lads seem to lose it here and a couple of changes were made. Within a couple of minutes PNE had put together a passing move leaving us chasing shadows and they had regained the lead. As our fifth defeat loomed we made some good chances, with Alex McDonald very unlucky not to beat the keeper with a cheeky chip but we just couldn't find the equaliser again.
Team :- Jon Sergeant, Dean Stott, Paul Casey, Richard Cowan, Jack Overson, Ali Akbar, Connor Smith, Joe O'Neill (Lewis Craig), Dale Underwood, Rob Turner (Alex McDonald), Jay Rodriguez. Sub not used :- Ash Young.