Football: Colwyn Bay FC look to regain confidence

Feb 11 2010

Neil Young

NEIL YOUNG hopes his Colwyn Bay side have not had their confidence knocked too severely following Tuesday night’s 3-0 defeat at Woodley Sports.

Despite the result the Seagulls still lie second in the Unibond First Division North, but they will need to bounce back quickly from their midweek loss with fellow promotion chasers Curzon Ashton due to visit Llanelian Road this Saturday (3pm).

"We’ve got a huge game against Curzon on Saturday and I just hope our confidence has not been knocked too much by the result at Woodley," said manager Young (pictured inset).

Colwyn missed the chance to go joint top of the table on Tuesday on the 3G surface where they never do well.

"I can’t fault the boys for effort," added Young. "They put everything they had into the game, but Woodley have such an advantage on that surface. The lads have been getting some great results of late and this setback need not affect us too much."

At Woodley’s Neil Rourke Memorial Stadium, the Bay had slightly the better of a first half in which neither side created much in the way of chances, but went a goal down just before the break.

Ian Sheridan shot narrowly wide and had a header saved, while Alex Titchiner was denied by a last ditch tackle when he looked set to score.

But Woodley finished the half strongly and after Antoni Sarcevic had a goal ruled out for offside, Mike Clarke beat the leaping Chris Sanna with a looping header into the top corner on 41 minutes.

With frost starting to form on the pitch, passing the ball accurately along the ground was becoming increasingly difficult, and the Bay changed tactics in the second half with three substitutions and bombarded Woodley with high balls into the box aimed at Tim Brandreth, Tom McGill and Greg Stones, but the home side defended well and allowed few opportunities to get a strike on goal.

Stones was unlucky to have a shot cleared off the line and Brandreth fired narrowly over the bar, while Jimmy Kelly was just wide with another effort.

But the home side then broke away to score two goals in the last five minutes through Dennis Sherriff and Mark Haslam to make it a flattering scoreline.

Young said the game showed why 3G pitches are banned from the Conference upwards.

"We like to play a certain way, which I believe is the way football should be played, but we just couldn’t do it on that surface – particularly when the frost started to form," added Young.

"When you tried to thread passes through the ball was just speeding away from you.

"If Greg Stones’ shot had not been cleared off the line at 1-0 it might have been a different story, but we had to commit men forward in the closing minutes and they got us on the break.

"Woodley are training and playing on that surface all the time and it is not rocket science to see why all their six league victories have come at home and they’ve turned over the likes of Lancaster and ourselves."

Bay did much better on Saturday, winning 2-1 at Bamber Bridge with 10 men after defender Anthony Lynch received a straight red card before the break for a challenge that put James Heywood out of the game.

Titchiner edged the Bay ahead on 25 minutes and Sheridan nabbed the winner after 70.

Colwyn Bay FC are running soccer camps for youngsters this half-term. Dates: Feb 16-17 (8 to 12- year-olds; Feb 18 (under-8s). For info call Christian on 07809 232404 or email: christian@cbfitc.co.uk