Unibond First Division North

15 November 2008

Low key City still strike the right notes

by Ken Milgate

Durham City 4 – Calvin Smith 26, Toft 59, Cogdon 68,88

Rossendale United – 0

City won their third successive League match after weeks of cup duty the length and breadth of the country, the pursuit of silverware re-claiming City’s attention this coming Tuesday in the Unibond League Challenge Cup at Sheffield FC and on Saturday in the FA Trophy at Solihull Moors.

City were slow to get going and on 2minutes Richard Watson was allowed a long unchallenged run from midfield into the box; fortunately for City his final shot was weak and wide.

Players on both sides were losing possession all too easily, and the tentative play almost cost City dearly on 7minutes when Stephen Harrison underhit a pass back to Craig Turns, but once again fortune smiled on Durham and Turns was alert enough to a Tom Williams lob to save the situation.

The quiet atmosphere was broken on 13minutes when John Toft brought a mass gasp from the crowd when his left-foot drive from the right smacked against the crossbar.

On the quarter hour Stephen Capper set up Adam Johnston with a good chance, but the latter’s rolled shot lacked sufficient power to trouble Ben Proctor.

A Capper left-wing pass from near the post failed to attract a City forward and a Johnston free-kick found the keeper correctly positioned to effect an easy save.

Just after a Gavin Cogdon shot seemed destined for the back of the net before being deflected for a corner, Calvin Smith smashed home at the back post after a number of City players had failed to connect with the Tommy English cross.

English and Harrison both went close before the injured Capper gave way to David Duke.

The visitors’ John Turner ballooned over a central free-kick on 38minutes and Johnston was equally off target when he pulled wide from a Duke assist and then cleared the crossbar from a Toft cross, his head and hands indicating his frustration.

Turner and Andrew Watson were way too high with early second-half efforts before English had a goal-bound shot deflected for a corner.

The chances were coming thick and fast, but City’s general play was a stuttering staccato of fits and starts.

Only Cogdon will know how he missed out on 57minutes, but two minutes later there was no doubt about Toft’s clean header past Proctor from a Harrison right-wing cross.

The visitors made two substitutions within two minutes, but City were now up for the game and not to be checked.

English and Cogdon combined twice in the same minute: on the first occasion Cogdon shot tamely into the keeper’s arms but buried the second assist into the back of the net.

On 72minutes Calvin Smith was close to his second of the match when his low screamer flashed past the post, as did yet another English effort three minutes later.

Shaun Bell and Ian Dixon replaced Johnston and Lewis Dodds in the final quarter of an hour, but in between the changes Harrison blasted over a Toft pass with the crowd willing him to get his name on the scoresheet.

Given their comparative profligacy, City at least made the final score look more respectable with two minutes remaining when Cogdon slotted home from Toft’s pass; even then English saw Proctor tip over a last-minute effort and gratefully accept a tame lob into his arms in stoppage-time.

As for my man of the match, Michael Laws was once again a rock at the heart of the City defence and a shrewd judge of when to pass and when to blast, although Tommy English ran him very close with his set-up play.

Despite the score line, City did not play with any consistency today, which probably makes the result all the more acceptable.

Durham City – Turns, Harrison, Capper (Duke 37), Dodds (Dixon 84), Richard Smith, Laws, Toft, Calvin Smith, Cogdon, Johnston (Bell 75), English

Subs not used – Fisher, Morris

Yellow card – David Duke

Man of the match – Michael Laws

Rossendale United – Proctor, Heywood, Richard Watson, Andrew Watson, Whittall-Williams, Clarkson, Clark (Calvert 59), Bailey, Turner, Eastwood (Atkinson 72),  Williams (Ward 61)