Express & Star

Halesowen Town 0 Gainsborough Trinity 3 - Report

Halesowen were given a harsh footballing lesson as high-flying Gainsborough of the Northern Premier coasted to victory to collect £9,000 in prize money against the limp hosts.

Published

Trinity dominated with Alex Simmons causing particular danger and he went close after his captain Liam King worked free to fire across goal after 14 minutes.

As the Yeltz eventually sparked into life, a cross from debut defender Christos Shelis was cut out by Joe Maguire - brother of England's Harry Maguire - at the end of a 20th minute run. Babucar Sauane then crossed for Lee Hughes to sky the ball high over the bar.

Ever-threatening Simmons was blocked again by a packed home defence but Trinity made their dominance pay to take the lead in simple fashion when Simmons' resulting corner was headed home by Shane Clarke in the six-yard box after 24 minutes. Simmons went close again with two further attempts in the 33rd minute.

There was no improvement from the Yeltz after the interval as the visitors added two further goals with some comfort in a one-sided second period.

Jordan Goddard fired a long free-kick straight at goalkeeper Jon Stewart in the Gainsborough goal after 48 minutes as Halesowen struggled to produce a proper shot on target. After 53 minutes Alex Byrne's deep cross was met by a header from Damian Reeves but home goalkeeper Dan Platt pushed the ball away and Nathan Stainfield's header was cleared off the line from the resulting corner.

But Trinity soon doubled their lead when man of the match Simmons was given too much time to deliver a lovely cross from the right for Ashley Worsfield to place a 54th minute header into the top corner. Platt then kept out further efforts from Reeves and Byrne. With home heads visibly dropping, King was left in acres of space on the edge of the area to shoot after 71 minutes and Clarke skipped through the home defence forcing Platt into a 73rd minute fingertip save.

Inevitably, Gainsborough made it a well deserved 3-0 in the 74th minute with an individual, but far too easy goal from Simmons, who turned the home defence before unleashing a fierce shot from the edge of the area to beat Platt.

With the game over, visiting goalkeeper Stewart put himself in trouble by losing the ball but redeemed himself to save from Hughes after 77 minutes and an 87th minute Hughes shot was blocked by Stainfield after good interplay between James Roberts and substitute Sam Tonks.

Teams

Halesowen Town: Platt; Shelis, Kelly (Tonks 74), Rea, Morris, Charlton, Sauane (Gilpin 68), Goddard (Ebanks-Blake 56), Hughes, Roberts, Ali (c). Subs Not Used: Bragoli, Lawton, Ezewele.

Gainsborough Trinity: Stewart; Austin, Gordon, Clarke, Maguire, Stainfield, Byrne, King (c), Worsfold, Reeves, Simmons (Russell 78). Subs Not Used: Hough, Evans, Hannah, Wilson, Ture.

Referee: Ollie Williams Attendance: 338