Wyrley Juniors 2-1 Stone Old Alleynians

An excellent  performance from a very depleted squad on Tuesday night meant Wyrley went back top of the league and kept their promotion hopes alive with a hard fought victory at home against Stone Old Alleynians. Wyrley started the game without 6 first team regulars, Danny Dolman, Phil Bowater, Paul Yeomans, Chris Fowler, Shaun Charles and Chris Geldart through injuries and work commitments but still managed to compete for 90 minutes against a strong Stone side. 

The game started very competitively with chances being created at both ends. First some good play between Tom Lowe and Mark Brindley found Jimmy Moore in space on the edge of the area but unfortunately Moore failed to keep his shot down. Stone then had a couple of long range efforts that luckily went straight at Richard James in the Wyrley goal.

On 35 minutes it was Stone who took the lead. A free kick from the halfway line was flicked on by the Stone striker and the Wyrley defence switched off allowing the Stone winger to run on to the loose ball and prod home past the advancing James. That was to prove the only goal of a very even and fiercely contested first half.

Wyrley began the second half very brightly and Chris Asbury and Jimmy Moore were starting to run the midfield the more the half went on. Despite the constant pressure they were applying though, Wyrley were struggling to create any clear cut chances. Then Steve Foster almost pulled the scores level with a well directed header from an Asbury long throw but the Stone keeper made a very smart save.

Eventually on 70 minutes Wyrley got a deserved equaliser. Some neat build up play resulted in Tom Lowe getting a shot away from 12 yards which deflected for a corner. Jimmy Moore delivered the corner deep to the back post where James Westwood arrived late to bundle the ball home. Sensing that they could pinch all 3 points Wyrley began to apply a lot of pressure by delivering a lot of crosses and long throws in to the box which Stone were struggling to deal with.

As the minutes ticked away it appeared that Wyrley’s second half dominance was going to be in vain as Stone continued to defend resiliently before Tom Lowe popped up with the winner 2 minutes from time. A Stone defender took to much time on the ball and James Westwood did really well to put him under pressure and steal the ball from him. Westwood then fed the ball into the path of Lowe who cut in on to his left foot and struck a shot from 18 yards which found the back of the net via the far upright.

A brilliant performance resulting in a much needed 3 points under very difficult circumstances and a big Thank You goes out to Chris Asbury, Adam Brough, James Westwood and Tom Lowe who stepped in to cover for the injured players and help us out.

Wyrley Team – Richard James, Steve Foster, Dan Martin, Adam Brough, Stuart Foster, Jimmy Moore, Jamie Fowler, Chris Asbury, Tom Lowe, Mark Brindley , Dan Kalinski . Subs –