Stockton Town Under 10 Yellows 0 - 0 Leven
A perfect morning for football with the sun shining and not much breeze as Stockton welcomed the only team to beat them this season. Leven made their intentions clear from the kick off with a speculative shot on goal and surprisingly continued the long ball approach throughout the match.
Whilst not particularly attractive to watch, it put a lot of pressure on Stockton's back line of Sam Ruddock and Connor Reney who spent more time heading the ball than they have done all season. The away sides strategy of trying to pounce on the scraps nearly paid off in the early stages as Phil Greenbank made a fine save as the striker struck a fierce shot from the edge of the box. Reney was superb in clearing anything that came his way and slowly but surely Stockton began to see more of the ball as Hugo Abrol was winning tackles in midfield and feeding French on the right flank. French was having some success and won a couple of corners as his crosses were cleared by the Leven defence. One of the corners was met with purpose by Conner Rennison but his excellent header just fizzed over the bar.
The first half had seen most of the play down the right but Reney was aware that Alex Greenhough was in acres of space on the left and was making every effort to get him involved in the game. Greenhough made a couple of great runs and crossed well with his left foot. This led to a blocked shot from Rennison and another last ditch clearance from the solid Leven defence. Stockton won two free kicks in quick succession on the edge of the box and it was French who fired the ball towards goal. The first was blocked again and the second headed off the line. Leven were counter attacking well with long raking balls from the back but Ruddock made some timely interceptions and Abrol began to forge forward once more. There hadn't been many clear cut chances and as the game came to a close, Rennison found French on his own advancing towards the keeper. The crowd held their breath in anticipation but the keeper came off his line well and smothered the ball at his feet.
0-0 was probably a fair result in a well contested game although Stockton would be the more disappointed of the two teams. Still time for a positive end to the day as we all went to watch Boro continue their push for an automatic promotion spot...
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