New Shildon AFC manager, Chris Hughes, if he didn’t already know, was made acutely aware of the task facing him this season as his new charges lost two goals and were reduced to ten men in an incident-packed first half at Stocksbridge Park Steels on Saturday.
Hero turned villain
As the Railwaymen’s struggles returned, last weekend’s last-minute hero at Tadcaster, Dean Thexton, turned villain when, at 2-0 down, he was ordered off four minutes before the break for kicking out after he had been fouled.
After the ensuing melee and consultation with his linesman, the referee brandished a straight red card at the striker; his second red of the season, which could potentially lead to a four-match ban.
Damage done
It could be argued that the damage was already done in the minutes preceding Thexton’s moment of madness.
Luke Rawson opened the scoring for the hosts in the 35th minute when Shildon failed to defend a throw-in by their left corner flag. A neat back-heel by Ify Ogoegbu returned the ball to throw-taker, Zack Reynolds, creating time and space for a low cross to Rawson who held off his marker to spin and flash the ball past Matty Bateman from six yards.
Three minutes later, the Steels doubled their lead. A central free-kick, midway into Shildon’s half, was floated into the box by Tomas Poole, watched on by a static defence. The ball landed at the feet of home defender, Mitch Langton, who had time to control before slamming past Bateman.
Perhaps the frustration of conceding two quick-fire goals accounted for Thexton’s indiscipline, described later by manager, Chris Hughes as “a bad choice” by the striker, but his ordering off made the task of rescuing the game almost impossible.
However, the ten men, albeit unable to find a way to an unlikely recovery, were able to limit the overall damage to that of the first period, sharing a goalless second half.
Tempered approach
“I won’t be forgetting how we played in the first half,” said Hughes, “but I was proud of how we reacted in the second half. It would have been easy to come away losing four, five, six-nil, but the lads dug in with ten men. They worked hard and we played some good football second half, but as I say, I won’t be forgetting the first half.”
A more tempered approach to the task is the manager’s goal. “Games in this league can be a bit rough and tumble in the first half,” he said, “but at some point we have to calm the game down and use some of the great players that we’ve got.
“We did that much better in second half, with Chay [Liddle] controlling the match, getting on the ball and bringing in the wide boys.
“I know the ability is there,” he said, “so it’s up to me to find a way to get it out of the players in the first half of games and not just play well in second halves.”
Six-pointer
Shildon’s ninth loss in twelve league games this season leaves them third bottom of the table with another of their lowly strugglers, Lincoln United, visiting Dean Street at 3pm on Saturday.
But Hughes refuses to see the match between the 18th and 16th placed sides as a possible relegation battle this early in the season.
“I won’t be calling any game a six-pointer yet,” he told Shildon AFC TV. “It’s another game that we have a chance of winning and a home game that we should be winning. It’s up to us now. We have two training sessions through the week to come up with the plan that gives us the best chance of winning the match.”
Meanwhile, Hughes is also in the process of strengthening his management team and hopes to make an announcement later this week.
Shildon & District's local community newspaper.
