Douglas delight for Glossop

Saturday saw Glossop North End travel to the birthplace of the Bee Gees, the Isle of Man, hoping to avoid a ‘tragedy’ and pick up their first win of the season before enjoying some ‘night fever’ to round off the trip.   

Glossop dominated the first half and should have gone in at the break in front. The returning Jacques Etia was a threat out wide, terrorising his fullback.   

On ten minutes Lew Reilly found him in the box but his left footed shot was pulled just wide.   

A minute later his drilled low cross was intercepted by the last Isle of Man defender as he looked to pick out Ethan Sutcliffe, who had found good space in the box.   

More good work from the pacy forward saw him drive to the byline, his pullback finding Gabby Mooney-Munoz, who, rather than putting out fires all over the pitch had joined the attack.   

His left footed cross was flicked goal-wards by Reilly, the effort coming back off the post before being cleared from danger. 

Moments later Isle of Man thought they had their first goal of the season but the offside flag was rightly raised and the game remained goalless.  

Just past the half hour mark and GNE took a well deserved lead, from the most unlikely of sources.   

 Club captain, Olly Parker, scored his first ever goal in senior football - in the attacking half of the pitch, following a throw in, he received the ball from Lee Rick, played a delightful give and go with Reilly whose clipped ball over the defence was chested down by Parker and then smashed home.   

Then came the sucker punch as within two minutes the hosts were level.   

Glossop lost the ball in the opposition half where Isle of Man found wide player man Charlie Higgins.

The right footed forward, playing off the left, was allowed to carry the ball far too far, past a couple of GNE defenders, whose attempts to stop him were poor, and into a dangerous area.   

His deflected shot went past Allen to draw the hosts level.  

The response was positive, an Etia cross was headed just over by Reilly and just before the break a Lee Rick free kick was headed over the advancing keeper goal wards, only to be cleared off the line by the last defender, facing his own goal. 

Into the second half and the wait for the next goal wasn’t a long one, Sutcliffe driving inside to draw a foul central to the goal 25 yards out.   

A four-man wall was positioned, the keeper covering his right hand side of the goal.   

Up stepped  Lew Reilly who curled the set piece round the wall, into the net for his third outside the box goal of the season as he peeled away to celebrate in front of the ecstatic away fans to restore the deserved lead. 

From there, Glossop looked to control the game and see it out, and almost scored their third on eighty minutes.   

In his last action of the game another Etia run and cross was met sweetly on the volley by substitute Dylan Fitzgerald.   

It would have broken the back of the net from eight yards out were it not for a deflection which took it agonisingly inches over.   

On 85 minutes the third did deservedly come.   

Substitute Aeron Bardsley, in front of his family who had travelled to support him, controlled a cross field ball from Lee Rick, took it round his defender and drilled a left footed shot across the keeper into the back of the net.   

His mum’s celebrations could have been heard back in SK13 as he was greeted by his teammates who celebrated with him and all those associated with GNE. 

To their credit the home side tried to get themselves back in contention and it was predictably a move down their right, a Whitely cross which was flicked on at the near post and headed home by midfielder Luke Booth arriving to meet it, five minutes into added time. 

So it ended 3-2, a score line which didn’t really reflect GNE’s dominance, their chances created and the way in which the defence, led well by experienced debutant Schofield, had nullified the home team’s threat throughout.   

Non the less, a win is a win, Glossop’s first of the campaign taking them onto four points and up to 11th in the early season table.