Photo Credit - Deborah Eastham (@DEasthamPhoto)
By Jacob Jones
Our playoff push was given an almighty boost with a massive victory over promotion rivals West Didsbury & Chorlton on the road last night. Goals from Tawab Djankpata, Benito Lowe and a penalty from Lewis Byrne completed a statement victory.
It was not the start that we had wished for as the hosts took the lead. A diagonal ball found the West Didsbury attacker who lashed a ball across goal, finding Jordan Lazenbury who reacted first to put us behind. Whilst not an ideal start, we would go onto once again showcase our character.
Just five minutes after the goal, we were level through Tawab Djankpata, who grabbed his second goal of the campaign. Tawab drove into the box past the Didsbury defenders and proceeds to rifle a shot past the opposing goalkeeper, a truly special strike to draw even.
Shortly after the goal, we would be temporarily reduced to ten men, the referee deciding that Benito Lowe was deserving of a sin bin for his actions. However, we would deal considerably well with the pressure that our opponents would provide during this period, many thanks to our goalkeeper, Oliver Culkin who made an impressive save from close range.
Benito would redeem himself at the beginning of the second half, carrying the ball past two Didsbury defenders before maintaining his composure and slotting the ball past the goalkeeper to put us into the driving seat.
We would continue to pile on the pressure for the remainder of the half with chances continuing to come our way at a large volume. Finally, with 87 minutes on the clock, Barlow drilled a shot at the keeper, who took out Taiwab Djankpata after spilling the ball as we were awarded a penalty. Of course, the penalty taker was Lewis Byrne and of course he scored once again, to give us a two-goal advantage.
Unfortunately, business was not yet fully attended to, after the fourth official had indicated that there would be a minimum of eight minutes additional time at the conclusion of the game, the hosts would proceed to find a goal in extremely bizarre fashion. A red card for Taiwab made for extreme confusion as a penalty was awarded for the home side, which Benjamin Elliott would convert.
We shown great resilience to get over the line, completing an impressive win that may prove to be vital come the end of the season. We look to take the momentum from this victory into our clash with another one of our promotion rivals, Padiham.
#UpTheChad
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