By George Bishop Green
Radcliffe claimed their first win of the season with a comfortable win over Droylsden FC in the Integro League Cup First Round. The team will now be wanting to take confidence from the 4-0 rout into the league game on Saturday when they travel to Stalybridge Celtic.
Boro took the lead in the encounter inside the opening minutes. Tyrese Sinclair raced forward into the box but saw his driven shot saved well by Chris Thompson. Scott Metcalfe then followed in to hit home the rebound, his shot was blocked on the line by Andy Langford. Langford however, used his arm to block the shot and was shown a straight red by Ben Wyatt. Sinclair then calmly dispatched the resulting penalty.
The home team looked to take control of the game with having the extra man advantage and doubled their lead 10 minutes later. Tom Brown received the ball from a corner and looked to cut inside onto his right foot. He saw his shot from outside the box deflect off a despairing Bloods defender and into the back of the net for 2-0.
Droylsden struggled to deal with the constant waves of pressure and found themselves 3-0 down in the 26th minute. Matthew Crothers looked to find Danny Mitchley inside the box. The opposition defence then got themselves in a tangle, which allowed Mitchley to steal the ball and coolly slide it past the despairing goalkeeper and into an empty net.
The final goal in a first half flourish came shortly afterwards in the 29th minute. Javid Swaby-Neavin searched forward with the ball, he then slid the ball into Kingsley Williams path in the box. Williams then passed the ball across the box for Mitchley to tap in his second goal of the evening.
The chances continued to come for the home team. First Matthew Crothers ball in to the box from the right hand side was met by Mitchley, but he misjudged his header and couldn’t quite find the finish for his hattrick. Sinclair then flashed an acrobatic effort just wide after a great cross to find him in the box by Swaby-Neavin. The final chance of the half fell to Sam Billington. After good inter-play between the forward line, Mitchley fed the ball to Crothers in the box, he then crossed across the face of goal but Billington blazed the chance over.
The second half continued in much of the same vain as the first. A delightful ball through the defence was met by Crothers, however he saw his effort saved well by Thompson. Williams then had a good chance from a corner, however he saw his shot blocked by one of his own players.
The bloods grew into the game during the second half, more than holding their own given Radcliffes man advantage. They crafted a half chance midway through the second half,f ollowing good work by Steve Rigby beating two players, he then passed forward to Liam Caddick but he flashed his shot wide.
The final chance of the evening fell to second half substitute Elliot Rokka. The Boro midfield managed to thread a perfect ball into the box for him. He then rounded keeper Thompson, but he saw his effort come crashing back off the post. He then jumped on the rebound, however was only able to find the side netting.
The first half flurry of goals was enough to give Radcliffe the win against Droylsden. In a game in which they will be happy to have dominated for pretty much the full 90 minutes, creating many chances from different types of moves. The bloods will take some comfort in the way they battled in the second half also.