Wednesday 27th February 2008

Staffordshire Senior League

Rocester Reserves 4 Redgate Clayton 3

The reserve team recorded their sixth win in seven matches with a well-earned 4-3 success over old rivals Redgate Clayton at Hillsfield on Wednesday evening.

Rocester got off to a great start and raced into a three-goal lead within 25 minutes of the start.

Newly re-signed striker Kyle Esplin quickly made his mark when he found the net after just six minutes, meeting Gary Beardsley's cross with a well placed near post header.

Esplin was on target again ten minutes later when he collected a clearance on the edge of the area and fired it firmly into the net to make it 2-0.

With Richard Owen pulling the midfield strings and a lot of pace up front Rocester were dominating the game, and it came as no real surprise when a third goal arrived. Owen delivered a free kick into the area and Jon Lamburn did the rest with a looping header that found the top corner.

Many teams would have thrown in the towel at this point, but to their credit Redgate battled back and gave themselves a lifeline before half time when Scott O'Brien scored with an angled shot that beat Karl Smith at his near post.

Jamie Kempson pulled another goal back for the visitors early in the second half before O'Brien levelled the scores in the 65th minute when he fired into an empty net after Smith had miscued a clearance.

Barely a minute later though, Rocester were back in front when Owen's perfectly flighted free kick found Beardsley running in at the far post and he made no mistake with his header.

More goals looked a possibility at either end, particularly in the last five minutes when Redgate pushed hard for another equaliser, but the Romans held out to take the points.

Joint Manager Martin Meylan said afterwards; "We were excellent in the first half, we played some really good football and fully deserved to be three goals up."

"Redgate came back strongly and they missed some good chances as well, but the character we showed to come back and win the game after they had equalised was fantastic."

"There were a number of good performances out there but Jon Lamburn was my man-of-the-match, he did really well on the right of midfield and maybe we have found his best position."

Romans: K.Smith; Plant; Jackson (Bull 55); Thompson; McCarron; Lamburn (J.Shaw 85); Reynolds; Beardsley; Orpe (P.Shaw 74); Owen; Esplin.