THIRD STRAIGHT DEFEAT FOR MARKETMEN
- pitch_side
- Oct 23, 2024
- 4 min read
Brackley Town inflict a third straight defeat on hosts Needham Market, in a frustrating night for the Suffolk outfit.
Kevin Horlock's side made 2 changes to Saturday's home game, Adam Mills and Ollie Fraser - making his first start at step 2 - replacing the injured Tommy Smith and Keiran Morphew.
The night got off to the worst possible start from the hosts' perspective, as a right wing long throw saw a shot blocked off the line by Reggie Lambe at the near post, though Danny Newton fired the rebound into the bottom left-hand corner in the 2nd minute.
The visitors almost doubled their lead three minutes later, as a right wing low cross into the danger area was turned wide at the far post.
Needham though quickly got a foothold into the game, and created a great chance in the 10th minute, captain Luke Ingram was threaded through down the right wing before smashing an inviting ball across the face of goal, just evading Lambe, while the goalkeeper dived across and held onto it with Ollie Fraser lurking behind him for a tap in.
The Marketmen restored parity two minutes later, neat play saw Luke Ingram's low left wing cross flicked on by Nico Valentine, finding MOTM Kyle Hammond at the far post to curl home into the top left-hand corner from close range.
Brackley however retook the lead in the 18th minute, a right wing corner saw two shots at the near post blocked off the line before Newton forces the rebound home, into the roof of the Needham net.
Marcus Garnham was then forced into a routine save a minute later, comfortably holding onto a low shot from distance, while good patient play from Needham saw Hammond exchange passes with Lambe, Valentine, Allen and Fraser, before trying his luck at goal again but fired narrowly over from a tight angle.
In clinical fashion, Brackley scored a third from their third real chance of the opening forty-five minutes, just after the half-hour mark. Pollock's right wing corner found Gareth Dean in space to tower a header home, despite the best efforts of Luke Ingram on the goal-line.
Garnham meanwhile thwarted Brackley in the 32nd minute, diving down smartly to his bottom right-hand, near, corner to beat the shot away, before Needham were denied by two important saves from Jonny Maxted seven minutes later.
Ingram found space to shoot, low at goal, from 35-yards out, but was beaten away by Maxted, low to his right-hand side. Needham recycled possession nicely, finding goalscorer Hammond in space to shoot from the right-hand edge of the box - albeit the stopper was across to his near post to parry the low shot behind.
The Marketmen were much the better side in the second half, who introduced Jamie McGrath for Ollie Fraser at the interval, with the substitute quickly involved three minutes after the restart.
McGrath picked up possession before driving into space and threading Hammond clear on goal, though the latter's low shot at the near post was held by Maxted.
At the other end, Garnham was on hand to shovel away Connor Hall's low shot from inside the box in the 50th minute, while Tevan Allen drove through onto the byline to pull a great low ball across the face of goal, but just evaded Nico Valentine.
A trio of Needham defenders combined well to deny a shot at goal from close range, with Ben Hunter winning back possession and clearing his lines just after the hour mark, which led to Kyle Hammond's dangerous free-kick from 25-yards out parried down by the 'keeper, who was able to collect at the second attempt after 63 minutes.
Needham withdrew Valentine for Seth Chambers as the Reds continued to search for a foothold back into the game, with Kyle Hammond's free-kick on the literal edge of the box blocked - as well as Adam Mills' fierce low shot from the recycled ball on 75 minutes.
Garnham was again on hand to keep out a shot from close range a minute later, followed by Northampton Town loanee Josh Tomlinson bravely blocking a ferocious shot at goal with his head in the 79th minute.
The woodwork however thwarted Needham from setting up a dramatic last ten minutes. Jamie McGrath won back possession high in Brackley's half before driving towards goal, only to see his shot cannon back into play off the outside of the near, right-hand, post, almost falling to Chambers but for a well placed defender to get there first and concede the corner.
The Marketmen were then ruing their luck on 84 minutes, as the woodwork again came to the visitors' rescue. Ben Hunter exploited space inside the box to thunder a shot towards goal, which beat Maxted but hit the underside of the crossbar and agonisingly bounced on the goal-line and back into play.
Brackley meanwhile had a late chance in the 92nd minute, as a left wing corner was headed just wide of the far post.
Our interview with Kevin Horlock and Kyle Hammond can be found by clicking link below. 👇
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