SKEGNESS TOWN 1-0 EASTWOOD CFC

Skegness Town....1 (Rayner 46)
Eastwood..............0

The Lillywhites halt Eastwood's recent fine run of form

Just a single change from the Vase win, Blair Anderson replacing the unavailable Liam Hearn. New signing Ellis Evans took his place on the bench alongside the returning Cal Jones and Jahren Barrow and Finn Hunter.

An uninspiring, stagnant and dour game on the east coast in atrocious weather saw Skegness beat Eastwood take all 3 points. The strong wind and howling rain emanating from the North Sea certainly didn’t help both sets of players in a scrappy contest.

The first chance fell to the visitors as a decent header from centre back Dean Freeman beat ‘keeper Rich Lovelace all ends up but the ball just cleared the ball and onto the roof of the net. Moussa Cisse and partner Romello Nangle were proving a nuisance up top and the former saw his decent effort saved low down by Lovelace after being played in by Jack Andrews.

The home side were content to soak up any Eastwood momentum with Corey Cuncliffe and Jason Field happy to see off any threats from the Eastwood forwards. Any perceived dangers were cleared unceremoniously upfield. The Lillywhites certainly loved their long ball. The first period was also punctuated with petty fouls with 3 bookings in the first 25 minutes which didn’t help with any kind of fluency.

On the half hour an Anderson corner was touched onto the bar by Lovelace and 5 minutes later McKenna Parton had the best chance so far as he latched onto a Cisse knockdown but blazed high and handsome clearing the bar.

Striker Cent Acar was lively for Skegness and he was a shade unlucky not to latch onto a fine right wing cross from Ben Davison - Mark Rathbone gathering cleanly. As the half wore on it was clear that the home team seemed content in soaking up anything the Red Badgers could muster and relying on the odd counter attack. Would the visitors regret the cutting edge and missed opportunities?

Barely 40 seconds into the second half the Lillywhites struck a dagger blow. The visitors defence were static as a Conor Marshall through ball found Luke Rayner-Mistry in space who fired home for the go ahead goal. Although the visitors midfield were busy and playing well there seemed to be no cutting edge up top and Cisse and Nangle still couldn’t find a way past Field and his fellow defenders.

A few half chances came the way of both teams but, I’m afraid, the only winner would ultimately be the weather.

Eastwood failed to make their superiority tell in the first half and Skegness took their only real chance in the second to win the game. A bad day at the office for the visitors - on another day they might have returned home with at least a point on the board especially on a fair first half showing.

Next up is a home game against Leicestershire outfit Quorn FC this Wednesday (4th) with a 19:45 Kick Off

Attendance ~ 111

Referee ~ Robert Holland
Assistants~ Lee Crawford and John Barrs

Skegness Town ~ Rich Lovelace, George Hobbins, Jason Field, Corey Cuncliffe, James Dean-Atkinson (McCauley Parker 81' Conor Marshall, Luke Rayner-Mistry, Ben Davison (C) (James Petronzio 83') Cenk Acar, Jonny Lockie ( Josh Morrall 70') Elliot Broughton.
Unused substitutes ~ Dan Brooks and Adam Milson.
Cautions ~ Dean Atkinson (21' foul) Rayner-Mistry (25' foul)

Eastwood CFC ~ Mark Rathbone, Ryan Ebanks, David Leak, Jack Andrews (C) Dean Freeman,
Charlie Marzano, McKenna Parton (Finn Hunter 76') Sean Woolley, Moussa Cisse, Blair Anderson (Callum Jones 64') Romello Nangle (Ellis Evans 72')
Unused substitute ~ Jahren Barrow.
Cautions ~ Parton (4' foul) Woolley (69' foul) Andrews (84' foul)