Abbey Lane Promoted!!!

[Nathan Hemmingham]

A Division football for Abbey

Abbey Lane under 14s secured their first ever promotion with a 1-0 victory over league rivals Handley Wood.
Both sides, sat third and second respectively before kick-off, needed three points to secure their place in next season's A Division but it was Abbey who took the spoils during a highly-charged and frantic encounter. Abbey were also forced to show their character and team spirit as early as the fifth minute, when Josh Oxley-Adams had to come off due to injury. That meant a re-shuffle and a change in formation from an attacking 4-4-2 to 4-5-1. With only 12 players available, Abbey were left without subs and were also reduced to 10 men for a while in the second half through another injury.
Connor Lightfoot was asked to do a thankless task up front and lead the line on his own against the league's best defence. Gokturk Demir was switched to the left and did an excellent job on the wing. Yet, despite the early setback, Abbey's excellent team spirit came to the fore and pulled them through, which has been the case so often this season. The only goal of the game arrived midway through the first half when Nathan Storey chased what looked like a lost cause down the right, beat the defender to the ball on the touchline, dribbled inside and found the unmarked Demir. His right foot shot hit the post but the ever-alert Lightfoot pounced to stab the ball home from close range.
Other than a clear penalty shout in the second half when Storey was hacked to the ground in the area, Abbey spent most of the game on the back foot but defended stoutly. Michael Fazakerley did a super job in nullifying the visitors' main attacking threat. Captain Jack Woodhouse led the back four superbly while full-backs Corey Ibberson and Thomas Knight were excellent. Ryan Pugh was man of the match for a sterling job in midfield and Reece Bennett also came in and did an outstanding job protecting his back four. Match pictures from this game are at www.punchypictures.com Click on the pictures below to see bigger image.