Sholing4 1Newport

Scorers :  Marv McLean 52, Kevin Brewster 62, Barry Mason 66, Dan Mason 87  /  Ryan Thomas 78

Date : Wednesday 19th August 2015 - 7:45pm kick off - Sydenhams Wessex Premier

Sholing : Ryan Gosney, Jack Shiner, James Davis (Lewis Kelly 72), Pete Castle, Dean Faithfull, Kevin Brewster (Byron Mason 68), Barry Mason [c] (Tobi Adekunle 75), Alex Sawyer, Dan Mason, Jamie Bulpitt, Marv McLean.  Subs not used: Owen Roundell, Jordan Brooks

Yellow Card :

Newport IOW : Aaron Bunday, Liam Newbold, Ryan Oatley [c], Liam Triggs, Martin McDonough, Scott Samson, Darren Powell, Ryan Thomas, Ashley Gulliver, Josh Maloney, Connor Kelly.  Subs: Matt Gane, Liam Bennett, Jimmi Burton, Liam Slaven

Yellow Card :  Liam Triggs, Ashley Gulliver, Martin McDonough

Attendance : 71

Man of the Match : Dan Mason

Referee : Paula Wyatt  Assistants:  Paul Hicks & Kevin Robinson

Despite torrential rain of Biblical proportions, Sholing picked up our first League victory of the season thanks to a powerful second half display.  A largely forgettable first half apart from a couple of good Dan Mason efforts, was followed by better passing & movement after the restart.  The Boatmen capitalised on some poor defending, but also created & took good chances.

Team News : Dan Miller missed out through a knock, but Pete Castle returned to partner Dean Faithfull.  Jack Smith was unavailable so James Davis went into the left back slot.  Byron was fit enough to be on the bench.

The rain which had started earlier in the afternoon was torrential by the time the game got underway.  However, the Silverlake Arena pitch drains quickly so there was no standing water, but it was still miserable conditions to play in and to watch for the few die-hards who ventured out.

Both teams struggled to play much football in the opening exchanges, and seemed happy to hit long balls to the forwards, but each defence was coping easily with that tactic.  First half-chance fell to Kevin Brewster after a cut back by Dan Mason, but Kev's shot was always rising.   On 21 minutes, Barry Mason showed great skill to bring down a clearance and then play the ball down the line for Dan Mason to pull the ball back across the 6 yard box, but with the keeper & two defenders around him, Marv couldn't get a touch.   Newport's first shot at goal skidded a yard wide before a freekick from 30 yards went about 30 yards over the bar.

Game was scrappy, with the forward lines unable to get the ball to their feet as a game of head-tennis between the two teams dominated the midfield.  However, with half time approaching, Sholing suddenly created 3 good chances.  Firstly a corner from Kev Brewster was flicked up and onto the bar by Dan Mason and then cleared.  Dan then showed his ability when given good service to his feet as he held the ball up and turned in one motion to unleash a fierce shot that the keeper did well to beat away.   Dan then found space to fire a shot wide via a deflection.  HT 0-0

The talk at half-time between the fans was of a goal probably coming from a slip on the soaking wet pitch and that's exactly how Sholing took the lead on 52 minutes.  A pass down the middle of the pitch caused confusion between the Newport defenders and keeper and somehow the ball was missed and it presented MARV MCLEAN with an empty goal to prod the ball into. 

There was nothing messy about Sholing's second goal 10 minutes later, when KEV BREWSTER played a ball into Dan Mason, who held it up on the edge of the area and fed it back into the path of Kev to coolly slot the ball across the keeper and into the net for a lovely goal.  It was still raining torrents, but also goals as 4 minutes later, the Boatmen had their 3rd.  A Kev Brewster freekick out wide right was delivered into the box with his usual accuracy and there was BARRY MASON arriving to flick the ball home.

Newport looked a beaten side, but were given a little lifeline on 78 minutes when Sholing failed to clear our lines and Ryan Thomas was able to find the bottom corner from the edge of the box.  The visitors pushed nearly everyone up, allowing Dan Mason to break clear from the half-way line.  He cut into the box and onto his right foot and his shot beat the keeper, but thumped off the post.   However, a few minutes later and he got the goal his performance merited.  A cross-cum-shot by Tobi Adekunle fell to DAN MASON near the penalty spot and his first time effort smacked into the goal.  FT 4-1

Photos by Ray Routledge (click an image to enlarge)