22nd March 2003

Keyingham F.C. 1 v 2 Westella & Willerby

Westella completed the double over Keyingham with a hard fought victory in a scrappy encounter. On a hard, bumpy pitch Westella started slowly and it came as no surprise when Tennison fired home from the edge of the box after just 4 minutes to put the home side ahead. Westella struggled to get a foothold in the game despite the promptings of youngster Mike Derbyshire and the hard work of front man Nick Laughton. The nearest Westella came to scoring was via a Danny Masson header, but Phil Dobson in the Keyingham goal saved comfortably from the former Winterton player. In fact Keyingham should have gone two up after 25 minutes when Glen Ratcliffe broke clear only to be denied by an excellent save by Herschell-Smith in the Westella goal. As the first half came to a close Westella wasted three good opportunities. One after good work from Gibson, Derbyshire and Jamie Robinson ending with Laughton missing a close range header, and the other two, Gibson headers narrowly wide from Jamie Robinson free kicks.

The second half began scrappily with neither side on the ascendancy, although Jamie Robinson began to have more influence on proceedings, and it was Robinson who set up Westella’s equaliser after 60 mins. He was put away by a fine Owen Robinson pass and from the bye-line clipped a fine cross to the far post where youngster Darren McGrath slid in to score. With Masson, Derbyshire and Robinson gaining control in midfield Westella began to press, although Keyingham nearly went ahead when Paul Newman headed against a post from a corner, the ball rebounding back into the grateful hands of Herschell-Smith. Westella eventually went ahead after 78mins, thanks to some great work by Barry Waller, who went through three challenges, before cutting the ball back for Darren McGrath who fired home from 15yds via the underside of the cross bar. At this stage Westella killed the game and hung on for a hard fought 2-1 victory, although Keyingham take credit for a hard working display in a game which could have gone either way.