We moved into third position in the league with this result. The goal was somewhat bizarre but we missed at least three one on ones with the keeper which luckily did come back to haunt us. We played the same side as last Saturday expect Karl Lewis returned for Damon Thomas. YM made the early running and Justin Williams headed over our crossbar to concede a fourth minute corner which Shaun Morgan headed clear. They then had a free kick wide in line with the edge of the area but despite a YM player winning the ball he only managed to shoot at Leon in goal. 

On six minutes we took the lead, we played the ball through the defence for Steve Cox to chase, his shot hit the keeper and rebounded back to him. The keeper was now out of position and Steve shot at goal, however there was no pace in his shot and a defender got back onto the line. Somehow he missed Steve's effort and the ball trickled over the line. We had a free kick on the half way which Dan Williams played short to Shaun Morgan, Shaun found Steve Parry wide left and his cross to Steve Cox was just cut out by some good defending. Steve Davies then lost the ball near the half way and the YM burst forward, there was a scramble in our goalmouth before another poor YM shot was picked up by Leon Cosker. Steve Davies then played a great ball through and Steve Cox had a shot saved the ball came back to him and he shot wide amid claims for a penalty. Just before the half hour Michael Waters lost the ball in the middle of the field, luckily for us the YM were caught offside when in a dangerous position. 

Just after the half hour there was a bad challenge on Shaun Morgan, everyone in the ground except the referee thought it was a free kick and a booking. Because he didn't penalise the challenge three other players were booked in a separate incident, Kieran Howells and Jamie Martin of the YM were booked in a 50-50 challenge and Leon Cosker was booked for protesting about the foul on Shaun. They were three unnecessary bookings brought about by poor refereeing. Luckily after several minutes on the sidelines Shaun was able to resume. On 36 minutes we were awarded a free kick a couple of yards outside the box in a central position, sadly an opportunity was lost when Steve Parry's effort went over the bar. 

Two minutes before the interval we missed another golden opportunity, Ian Jones latched on to a through ball and made ground towards the area, with only the keeper to beat his control let him down and the keeper was able to gather and clear his lines. Inside the first five minutes of the second half Steve Davies went down the right and his cross found Ian Jones, Ian fed Karl Lewis but he failed to connect cleanly and another chance went begging. Steve Parry played the ball into Ian Jones inside the area and he again shot wide from a reasonable position. Steve Davies was injured after 55 minutes after he made ground down the right and crossed he was fouled after putting in the cross. Again after several minutes he was able to return. 

After 57 minutes following a left side corner Steve Davies found Shaun Morgan who nodded it into Michael Waters path but he shot over the bar from 15 yards. A feature of the latter stages of the game was the number of times we were caught offside some of them only yards from the half way, this gave the YM their best chance of an equaliser as they were able to send their tall defenders forward. The usually reliable Dan Williams missed a clearance midway through the half and Justin Williams was forced to concede a corner. Again good defending saw the corner cleared. With a quarter of an hour to go Ian Jones played Shaun Best in but the keeper came out and stood tall and blocked Shaun's shot but another chance went begging. With just over 5 minutes to go we put ourselves under unnecessary pressure when we were awarded a free kick wide right but a poor kick resulted an a YM break, luckily we got back to clear the danger. 

It was looking increasingly likely that the only way the YM would score would be from a set piece and with a minute of normal time to go we conceded a free kick 23 yards out in a central position. 6' 5'' Daniel Heath who has scored from further out at the Marston's lined up his shot, luckily for us it went inches wide with Leon Cosker scrambling across his goal. That proved to be the last chance for the YM to gain a point but with the chances we squandered they shouldn't really have had the chance.

Lido side

Leon Cosker  Justin Williams  Steve Parry  Dan Williams  Shaun Morgan  Kieran Howells  Steve Davies  Karl Lewis  Ian Jones  Steve Cox  Michael Waters.

Subs
12  Shaun Best for Steve Cox 68
14  Corey Thomas for Ian Jones 93
15  Damon Thomas
16  Karl Roberts
17  Rory McCreesh

Yellow Cards  Kieran Howells  and Leon Cosker 32  Ian Jones 38

Attendance:126

Report by Peter Reynolds.