KJM SPORT REPORT Oldland Abbotonians 3 Saltash Utd 2

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Created on Sunday, 30 July 2023 14:42

Last Updated on Monday, 31 July 2023 06:47

Published on Sunday, 30 July 2023 14:42

Written by KEVIN MARRIOTT Cornwall football's touchline ace

A new era at Saltash – with new management and a whole new team - began with defeat at Western League Premier Division new boys Oldland after the Ashes had worked their way into a winning position.

Having fallen behind to a 22^nd minute goal, Saltash equalised on the stroke of half-time through Kieran O’Melia, who then fired them ahead five minutes into the second half.

But Oldland took advantage of some sloppy defending to score twice in eight minutes around the hour mark and held on for victory despite being reduced to 10 men for the last 10 minutes by a sin binning.

All of which left new Ashes manager Macca Brown to say: “We shouldn’t have lost the game. We are disappointed but we only have ourselves to blame, and it’s the age old story of what happens in both boxes, but collectively we lost the game when we shouldn’t have.

“The back five will probably look at the game and say we created five or six clear opportunities to score and put the game to be bed.

“And the forwards will probably look at it and say we’ve scored two away from home yet we’ve lost the game to three really bad goals - and they’d both be right.”

Brown described it as a typical first game of the season, frantic in places which the Ashes expected, but he felt they did really well in the first half to take the sting out of the game.

He said: “Kieran and Jordan (Ewing) both had really good chances before we conceded from a free kick, but the reaction was fantastic and Kieran scored a superbly worked equaliser which we took into half time.

“In the second half Oldland were more of a threat. I felt we dominated much of the first half but they always looked dangerous on the transition when they were quite direct and tested us in behind.

“But at the start of the second half against the wind they did work the ball out to their right winger a few times who was causing us lots of problems with his pace. But once we went 2-1 up for us we really needed to manage the moment better.

“You have to dial everything up after going ahead, especially away from home as there’s always going to be a reaction, but we didn’t do that from a defensive point of view.

“We had a couple of great chances to take the game away, JT (Josh Toulson) should have scored from a few yards out but we weren’t clinical enough. And then the ball came into our box far too easily and we didn’t defend the box well enough.

“It is just moments in the game, but it is in those moments where you need to be impeccable because that’s how you win games, and to go from 2-1 to 3-2 in the space of 10 minutes was incredibly frustrating.

“However, we obviously won’t get carried away and the beauty of this time of year is that you get a chance to go again a few days later, and hopefully we respond at home on Tuesday night versus Helston.”

Ashes fans are going to have to be patient this season. Not one player is left from the team which finished runners-up last season and Brown has brought in many of the players who featured with him at Millbrook last season.

Saturday’s starting XI included seven former Millbrook players, with another two on the bench and one unavailable (Laurence Murray). Brown has gone with his tried and trusted and will build from there.

They will settle and in Reece Thomson and Jordan Ewing up front they will score goals. But it’s likely to be a rollercoaster ride.

Saltash: J Mead-Crebbin, T Love-Holmes, E Wright (J Foster 70), J Wood (H Bunning 83), B Goulding (S Cox 73), R Hamilton, K O’Melia, T Huyton, J Ewing, R Thomson, J Toulson (J Preece 63).

Sub not used: N Crump.

Referee: Darren Gay.

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