Newmarket clinched a vital win and 3 points from their
travels to Skegness. Having only travelled with eleven men, town were only
looking for 1 point at the most but still fought hard to get all 3.
Still without winger Gallop, young Josh Dawson slipped
in at right wing, and showed what a versatile player he is, looking
comfortable throughout the game. With the midfield of Magnus Magnusson and
Chris Jefferson, coupled with Ben Coupe and Dawson, Newmarket had a strong
hold on the middle of the park. The Alford back four struggled with this
strength and gave away a short corner within 10 minutes. Mark Pears went
route one, and it was Dawson who started the scoring with an unstoppable
hit to the bottom left hand corner.
Alford retaliated through a counter attack and scored
the equaliser. Alford got their second when Kieren Drane lost out
unluckily on a one on one situation. The yellow and blues did not let
their heads drop, driving forwards as a team, winning another short corner
in the process. Ian Starling was at the end of the set piece, levelling
the score minutes from time.
Nothing but good things were said in the half time team
talk, and Newmarket chose to stick to the game plan. Alford came straight
at Newmarket, forcing their way through to net a third goal, again
Newmarket went behind, but instead of looking to blame someone, they
decided to lock down and let no more pass them. Wing backs Adrian Atkinson
and Anthony Nowell stood their ground, preventing the opposition from
attacking. The ball then fell loose to Newmarket and with one pass it
ended up on the stick of Jefferson, the Alford keeper ran towards the play
maker, but with great vision he slipped it to Pears who tapped it in to
make things level again.
Alford got frustrated, and this showed when their main
striker saw yellow for retaliating badly to a great tackle from the
Newmarket defence. Town took advantage of this and stepped up their game.
Alford appeared to be lost without an outlet and struggled to contain
Newmarket. Josh Dawson netted the winner when Pears knocked the ball past
Alford’s keeper for Dawson to seal the 3 points. This win puts Newmarket
top of the table, and in order to stay there they will have to beat next
week’s opponents Market Deeping, starting at 12.30pm at home.
