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First Team vs. Loughborough Dynamo FC (1 : 4)

Saturday, 8 December, 2012 - 15:00

Sheffield suffered another embarrassing defeat this afternoon, writes Stuart James, as Loughborough came from a goal behind to run out convincing winners at a chilly Nanpantan Sports Ground. Club had taken the lead in the 16th minute through Shaq McKenzie and were looking to make amends for the defeat in the reverse fixture in August, but Dynamo stormed back with goals from Dan Henton in the 30th minute and Rob Norris six minutes later, turning the game upside down. Things went from bad to worse for Club in the second half, as Dom Brennan reacted quickest to a penalty save eight minutes after the restart, with Jake Betts wrapping things up in the 86th minute. To cap off an awful afternoon, Andrew Gascoigne was shown a red card in stoppage time along with Betts for the hosts, making it a day to truly forget. The game started in a rather muted fashion, with neither side coming out of the blocks with any real conviction, and the nearest effort coming from an Anton Foster drive that was deflected wide. It took the first decent piece of football of the game to break the deadlock, as a ball through to Gascoigne saw the midfielder waltz round the back of a static defence, then squaring the ball to McKENZIE who drilled the ball under Laurie Pearson.

That goal was the catalyst that stung Dynamo into action, and soon they were dominating play, putting the visitors under a steady stream of pressure. A cross from Dom Brennan saw Liam Flynn make a bad call, with the ball sailing over the keeper to allow Shawn Richards a shot on goal, and it took a brave defensive block from Jamie Hadfield to deny a certain equaliser. From the corner the hesitance in the visiting defence was there for all to see, and once again they could count themselves lucky not to concede, as the bad clearance was hooked inches wide by Alvin Jarvis.

Club still had a bit of a threat about them, and should have doubled their lead when an excellent ball from Tyrone Thompson found Shaq McKenzie; unfortunately the striker’s shot went straight at Pearson. Moments later though the aforementioned hesitancy was punished as a ball over the top from Carl Sibson saw the Sheffield defence all statuesque and appealing for an offside that was never going to come, Richards took the ball on with a good run and squared from the by-line, allowing an unmarked HENTON to drive the ball into the corner of the net. Loughborough were well and truly on top, and were now peppering the Sheffield goal with shots from everywhere in an attempt to take the lead, with Richards seeing an effort deflected wide and Davidson hitting the bar with a header from  a Wykes corner. Eventually they grabbed their deserved goal, as another corner in from Adam Wykes was knocked back across the goal by Danny Davidson, and there to drive home was NORRIS with a solid strike. The visitors tried to get back into the game, but the best they could achieve was a fine run from young Aaron Rice after being put through by Gascoigne, but the shot from Rice ended safely in the hands of the keeper.

The second half had a painful inevitability about it, as Dynamo were the ones asking all the questions, getting to the loose ball first and winning the majority of the challenges against a very lacklustre Sheffield side. In the 53rd minute Lee Featherstone brought down Danny Davidson in the box, the penalty was awarded by referee Bruce, with Rob Norris stepping up to take the spot-kick. Almost predictably Liam Flynn guessed right and made a great save, but as all his defenders stood and watched, BRENNAN was the quickest of the three Loughborough players to tap home the rebound. Club simply disintegrated at this point, Flynn was doing his utmost to keep the score down, making a couple of saves from Brennan and an excellent one from Wykes. It was just one-way traffic at this point, Dynamo were taking pot-shots from anywhere, and Sheffield just looked rudderless. Norris went close on more than one occasion, whilst the best the visitors could offer was a shot from substitute Matt Roney, one that was easily handled by Pearson.

As time was running down the afternoon took its inevitable course, as a corner from Wykes was sailed into the box, and unmarked to plant a header where he wanted was BETTS to wrap up the scoring. In injury time the visitors’ frustration finally boiled over as Gascoigne lunged into Jarvis with a reckless two-footed lunge, sparking angry reactions from both sides and a 21-man brawl, which then increased as both benches became embroiled in the nonsense. Gascoigne was shown a straight red card for the challenge, and was joined for a trip down the tunnel by Betts for his part in the retaliation, putting the icing on a pretty sad afternoon.

Photos from the game, courtesy of Ben Webster, can be viewed here.

Loughborough Dynamo: Pearson, Sibson, Young, Henton, Jarvis ©, Betts, Richards, Wykes, Davidson (Liversedge), Norris (Williams), Brennan. Subs Not Used: Hollist, Langham, Mann-Kler

Sheffield FC: Flynn, Burrell, Featherstone, Thompson, Hadfield, Green, Adam (Powell), Foster © (Thomas), McKenzie, Gascoigne, Rice (Roney). Subs Not Used: Wall, Turner