Reserve Team Match Reports 08-09

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With the Millers Reserves Manager away on holiday, assistant Eddie Haslam took charge of their opening game of the 2008/09 season, and saw a repeat of last year when Millers fell to an opening game defeat away from Home. This year the opposition was newly named AFC Fylde who ran out eventual 3-1 winners capitalising on some sloppy New Mills defending. Both teams had some First Team squad members in their starting line-ups, some returning from injury others because of work commitments.
It was Millers who started the match the brighter after kicking off with a strong breeze behind them. With only three minutes gone, Fylde captain Dougie Shaw felled Matt Zajac with a strong challenge and Millers were rightly awarded a free kick. The Fylde keeper set his wall and covered his far post. With Joe Shaw and Danny Carter hovering over the ball it was Carter who stepped up and hit a wicked curling shot with his left foot from 25 yards out, and the tall Fylde keeper did well to scramble across his goal and beat out the shot which had been destined for the top corner.
Eight minutes later and Matt Zajac collected the ball on the left hand side and played an excellent crossfield pass to Scott McGowan. The ball looked to have just run away from him but he controlled it wide, cut back inside and went past three defenders before finally finding space for his shot which took a slight deflection, and the Fylde keeper again did well to dive full length to his right and push the ball out for a corner. The resulting kick caused some panic in the Fylde defence as the ball seemed to pinball around the six yard box but was eventually cleared to safety.
On the quarter hour Joe Shaw made a good strong run up the centre of the field and played an incisive through ball to Adam Blackburn who couldn’t quite get it under control as the Fylde keeper again did well to come off his line and smother the ball. AFC Fylde had their first meaningful effort on goal on 20 minutes when their number 10 found some space, but his shot from the edge of the area was straight at Millers keeper Luke Smith. From the resulting clearance Matt Zajac mishit a difficult shot with the ball coming over his shoulder, and sliced the ball well wide of goal.
AFC Fylde did have the ball in the net on 22 minutes, but the scorer was deemed to be offside. It was Joe Shaw who came closest to actually scoring the first goal just before the half hour when he picked up the ball in left midfield and unleashed a 35 yard effort which the Fylde keeper could only watch sail over his head and unfortunately rebound to safety off the crossbar.
New Mills had definitely been the better team for the first twenty minutes but then Fylde started to get back into the game. A couple of minutes after Joe’s effort, Mike Ward was put under pressure facing his own goal from the Fylde number 9 Mark Caven, and Millers Keeper Smith did well to smother the ball at both players feet. However there was nothing he could do a minute later when Caven intercepted an intended back pass and left Smith in no mans land as he scored from a wide angle.
This goal galvanised the AFC Fylde team into further action as they finished the half on top. Their number 8 fired a volley just wide, Smith was off his line well to make a block tackle on Caven as he again raced clear on goal, but right on half time a ball over the top found the Fylde number 11 who looked offside but nothing was given, and he passed the ball inside past Smith to leave Caven with an open goal to fire his second goal of the game.
Millers went into the break 2-0 down and nearly fell further behind five minutes into the second half when the Fylde keeper with the wind behind him made a long clearance downfield which found his right winger who controlled the ball and fired in a cross come shot which the Millers keeper had to claw out from just under his bar.
Apart from a Danny Carter free kick straight at their keeper it was Fylde who were maintaining the pressure. Stephen Land, Lee Bromley and Mike Ward all had to make excellent covering tackles to clear some dangerous situations and the Millers keeper made a good stop with his feet at his near post, but there was nothing anyone could do on seventy minutes when a simple ball over the top found the Fylde number 8 unmarked and he fired past the Millers Keeper from just inside the area.
New Mills never looked like scoring for the remainder of the half until they were offered a consolation penalty in injury time when Adam Blackburn was felled by the Fylde keeper just by the penalty spot, and he picked himself up to take the penalty firing it straight down the middle as the keeper dived to his left.

New Mills Reserves took the opportunity in their "friendly" against Chapel Town to give some new players a run out and try out a few positional changes, as only three of the original starting eleven played the full 90 minutes.
Chapel are a big strong physical team who will surely do well in the Manchester Premier League this season. According to reports they were missing a few first team regulars, but they proved to be well organised, very strong in the air, robust in the challenge and if this game hadn't been a "friendly" it may have led to more than the one yellow card, but they maybe lacked a few attacking options.
Millers didn't play to their strengths or as well as they did the previous Saturday and will hopefully have learnt a few things from this game. In particular communication, the game is much easier with it, play to your strengths not the oppositions and don't panic under pressure. All in all though it was a useful run out against a good team, and will have provided all seventeen players used good experience in the build up to the new season.
For the record:- Danny Carter was the main man for New Mills in the opening 14 minutes as each Millers attack seemed to originate from him down the left wing, but after Adam Blackburn had fired wide, James Elmore fired over and Carter himself had three opportunities denied, it was Chapel who could have taken the lead on fifteen minutes but Millers keeper Chris Fidler was off his line quickly to block an attempted lob. Three minutes later and Chapel created another opportunity but the shot across goal from the left side of the penalty area sailed wide of the far post.
Chapel maintained a period of pressure and their number 9 had two chances to open the scoring but blasted the first high over the Millers bar, but was denied a one on one opportunity as the Millers keeper made a good stop low to his right. Millers had an opportunity to break the deadlock on the half hour when Tom Byrne took a quick free kick which found David Silcock in space, his downward header to Jake Taylor was played back across goal and Danny Carter curled a shot just wide of the far post. Millers were denied the opening score just before the half time whistle, as a midfield scramble ended with Jake Taylor rounding the Chapel keeper and passing back from a wide angle for Adam Blackburn to score, only for the referee to rule out what looked a perfectly good goal.
Millers made some half time changes and hadn't settled as the Chapel number 8 embarked on a run which took in half the length of the pitch, but saw his shot easily saved by the Millers keeper. Chapel did take the lead though on 55 minutes when the Millers defence failed to take the opportunity to clear the ball from their own penalty area, and the Chapel forward created some space and fired the ball through a Millers defenders legs to unsight and wrong foot the Millers keeper. Chapel could have extended their lead five minutes later when their number 14 hit a rasping 35 yard shot which Chris Fidler in the Millers goal did well to beat away to his right.
Millers did eventually try playing the ball on the floor after 70 minutes when Jake Taylor, Joe Ingham and Aji Khan played some neat passing moves out on the right wing eventually laying the ball back to Mark Goodwin whose shot was saved by the Chapel keeper. Both teams had a few more opportunities to score, but it was left to a push in the area from Joe Inghams last minute free kick, that gave Adam Blackburn the opportunity to step up and ensure the game finished level.

New Mills Reserves got their season underway with a 5-0 friendly win against a spirited Knights FC from Worksop, with last season's leading goalscorer Adam Blackburn bagging a hat-trick to start the season in style.
A lively start to the game saw chances at both ends as players ignored the hot, humid conditions and raced round the pitch looking for the first goal. Millers could have gone ahead in the second minute, when they beat the offside trap only to see the inside pass blasted away for a corner. Knights FC then had a 2 on 1 opportunity at the other end, but a weak final shot was easily collected by Millers keeper Chris Fidler. Three further early chances fell to Knights FC, the first two required good covering tackles to clear the danger from first Stephen Land and then Mark Goodwin, the third a free kick from 25 yards out saw a low shot round the wall again easily collected by the Millers keeper.
Millers then started to work their way into the game. Danny Carter had a free kick punched away by the Knights Keeper, Chris Sibson headed wide from a Millers throw, and Adam Blackburn's goalbound shot was deflected away by a defender. This period of pressure finally told on 20 minutes when Adam Blackburn rounded the advancing Knights keeper and steered his shot past the defender on the line to open the scoring.
The lead was doubled two minutes later when a series of Millers corners caused panic in the Knights defence and a clearance from a defender unfortunately hit the back of one of his own players and rebounded into the net for 2-0. Millers went further ahead just after the half hour when an excellent through ball by Aji Khan was well finished with a left foot shot over the keeper by Blackburn.
Millers continued to probe the Knights defence, with Danny Carter and Chris Prodromis causing the full backs a few problems, and the Knights keeper had to be alert to cut out several dangerous crosses, but it was Knights who could have scored the final goal of the half when their lively number 8 again broke on goal, but his low cross shot was well saved to his left by the Millers keeper and the ball was cleared to safety by David Silcock.
Millers started the second half strongly with Danny Carter and Mark Goodwin having opportunities to extend the lead, but then four chances fell to Knights to get themselves back in the game. Awarded a free kick right on the edge of the Millers area, another low shot round the wall was collected at the second attempt by the Millers keeper who was then out of his goal quickly to make the Knights FC number 8 hurry his attempt at a lob, and he saw the ball agonisingly bounce just over the Millers crossbar. Five minutes later and the Knights number 8 saw his best chance of the game, a one on one effort from 6 yards out again well saved by Chris Fidler in the Millers goal. The fourth chance again fell to the Knights number 8 who looked decidedly offside, but with no whistle, the Millers keeper again did enough to hurry the forward's attempt on goal and it sailed over the bar.
Fitness then started to play a factor and the Millers team took control of the game, and created several chances from subs Thornley and Allen and a stinging left foot drive from Danny Carter, but couldn't extend their lead. This changed in the last five minutes. Substitute keeper Luke Smith cut out a Knights cross and launched a huge upfield clearance, which the Knights keeper failed to deal with under pressure from Adam Blackburn, who then had the easiest of jobs to roll the ball into an empty net to complete his hat trick. With his work done, Blackburn came off for a well earned rest to be replaced by "supersub" Millers keeper Chris Fidler, who kept up his goals to shots ratio by firing the ball under the Knights keeper for his first of the season, and Millers fifth.
This match provided a good early season work out for Millers Reserves, and in a game played in very hot conditions the fitness of the team was evident to the end. The opposition will surely get stronger, but if the team continue to create the number of chances they did in this game and remain solid at the back, then another successful season should be realistic.