Match Report - PENDLE CS - 11 Feb 2024

Another game, another win for Jacob Austin’s promotion chasing Reds, who faced unbeaten Pendle on a chilly Sunday afternoon in what would turn out to be an ill tempered affair

Bowland started the better of the two sides, forcing the Pendle goalkeeper into a myriad of saves early on, with Reuben Confue in the Bowland net rarely being tested

In the 20th minute Bowland were awarded a penalty after some great work in the box from Lawrence Hopper before he was clattered by the Pendle goalkeeper, who miraculously escaped a yellow card, to win a penalty for the Reds. Kayden Parish stepped up to make it 2 from his last 2 games from the spot to put Bowland 1-0 up in the first half

Tempers flared just minutes later when inexplicably a Pendle defender punched Peter Mohrasri in the head, leading to a mass brawl that saw the Pendle player sent off, and Peter booked for his reaction. Dabelu Emecheta then had a goal controversially ruled out for offside, despite it being blatantly denied onside

Pendle forced a world class save out of Reuben in goal from a set piece that was almost definitely offside just before the break as the sides went in at half time with Bowland 1-0 in front

Benn Cellamare then made his Bowland Cs debut, coming on at half time for fellow debutant Sam Bond, and made a near enough instant impact, mishitting a shot that set another debutant in Ross Stodgell through on goal for the midfielder to slot home after just 43 seconds of the second half to make it 2-0

Reuben once again proved his worth as a goalkeeping wonderkid in goal, making a big one on one save to keep the 2 goal margin intact

Dabelu Emecheta would then make it 3-0 following in from Max Tovell’s long range effort that hit the post to cap off a good display from the forward, before Peter Mohrasri got his revenge by firing home a well hit shot from the edge of the box

Despite the brilliant attacking play, much of the credit for the win once again has to go to the defence, keeping their 3rd cleansheet in the last 5 games, with the familiar centre back partnership of captain Jacob Austin and Kayden Parish proving imperious, even with the late absence of Jai Kempster through illness

Pendle went down to 9 men late on when Ross Stodgell was brought down by another defender late on, with that being the second Pendle red card of the day. Tom Cantrell should have added a 5th goal, but missed a sitter from a matter of yards out late on

A dominant performance from Jacob’s Reds who could easily have won by more than the 4 goals, who move level on points with Fylde Cs in the battle for promotion to division 2, following Fylde’s surprise 3-2 loss to County Cs earlier that day