College Football: Goodricke 1-0 Langwith

By Alex Finnis

Goodricke captain Sam Lewis praised the spirited performance of his opponents after Nick Dheir scored the only goal of the game to give his side a 1-0 victory over a resilient Langwith. After the match a relieved Lewis said: “Credit to Langwith, they were hard to break down, especially with a five man defence.”

Goodricke controlled much of the game on a swamp-like 22 acres pitch but found it extremely tough to break down the five-man Langwith defence, led by the excellent Luke Gardner. Langwith defended capably in the opening half, limiting Goodricke’s clear-cut chances to a headed effort from Astbury which flew inches over the crossbar and a powerful strike by Sam Lewis, who hit the post with the goalkeeper well beaten.

The number of chances increased as the game went on. Ben Smith could have had a hat-trick but for Lambert in the Langwith goal denying him on several occasions, and then his failure to turn a Jon Sharpe cross into the net from close range. Sharpe’s pace was a constant threat down the right flank, but it was more a moment of luck than skill which led to Goodricke’s long-awaited goal.

Langwith captain Luke Gardner later bemoaned one slight lapse of concentration, which meant the ball was not cleared properly out of defence, subsequently allowing Nick Dheir to smash a loose ball high into the net for a goal which was to decide the match.

Langwith did press for an equaliser, but, as had been their problem for the entire game, when they did manage to get forward into attacking positions they lacked both the numbers and presence higher up the pitch to really endanger the Goodricke goal. A fair result overall and certainly something to build on for both sides over the duration of the term.