Yorkshire Amateur League Division 1 – Saturday 10th February 2018
Full-time: Idle FC 3 – 1 Dewsbury Rangers
Goals: J. Strudwick (x3)
MOTM: J. Strudwick
The recent bad weather has continued to cause chaos with the fixture list across the West Yorkshire district for the second week in a row. However, Idle managed to get Saturday’s game on thanks to Goals Bradford!
This week Idle hosted Dewsbury Rangers in Division One of the Yorkshire Amateur League for the first meeting between the two sides and after last week’s horror start, Idle were keen to not concede within the first 5 minutes…
However, true to form, Idle were 0-1 after 5 minutes. This time thanks to a poor header from Danny Rosconie which didn’t quite reach Marcus Strudwick in the Idle goal. The Dewsbury forward managed to capitalise on the error to put the away side in the lead. An absolute shambles once again accompanied by heads rolling off with Strudwick bellowing out the profanities followed by Rosconie asking for forgiveness… and by forgiveness I mean telling Strudwick to get on with it.
Anyway, with the customary bad start out of the way, Idle began to grow into the game. Carl Dawson and Tom Simonett were able to control the midfield and begin dictating the play when given the opportunity, whilst the Idle defence seemed a little nervous and often resorting to playing the ball long.
Dewsbury then managed to carve out a second chance against the run of play when the big forward rounded Strudwick but somehow managed to fire the ball wide. Yet another wake up call for the home side.
Idle continued to dominate the ball and create opportunities. Several corners in quick succession lead to the first of two penalties awarded by the referee. The first for a handball by the defender who charged down a shot from close near the edge of the box, however, with his arms raised it was deemed handball and a penalty.
Man of the match, Jack Strudwick stepped up and sent the Dewsbury goalkeeper the wrong was to put Idle back on level terms. Idle continued to press the opposition and Tom Simonett showed some lovely footwork in the box to deceive the closing defender, who in turn, took down the centre midfielder for the second penalty of the half. If football doesn’t work out, Simonett certainly has a future on Broadway. Here’s actual footage of Simonett in action…
Once again, Strudwick stepped and smashed the ball past the keeper to put Idle in the lead. Despite not scoring from open play, it was certainly a deserved lead for the home team after dominating large parts of the first half. The half-time whistle arrived and it remained 2-1 to Idle.
The second half was much more like the Idle we all know and love! In the most part it was one-way traffic with Idle attacking with pace and precision against a Dewsbury defence who were playing a high line to try and press their way back into the game. However, Idle’s counter-attack proved lethal with J. Strudwick completing his hatrick on the hour mark after a sweeping move from Ryan Mitchell and Aaron Irving set-up the attacking midfielder whose composed finish put Idle 3-1 to the good.
Idle entered cruise control, controlling the game and passing the ball around at the back, through midfield and counter-attacking after the Dewsbury attacks broke down. Plenty of chances came and went with the Dewsbury goalkeeper making a few good saves to stop Idle extending their lead.
However, the home side were disappointed not to extend their lead after failing to capitalise on a number of chances in open play and from set-pieces with the best chance falling to centre-back, Connor Halligan who couldn’t quite connect with the goal gaping after Jamie Allen’s header back across the six-yard box. Bloody Halligan denying me my first assist in probably about a year!
All in all, it was a relatively uneventful second half with the home side comfortable on the ball and Dewsbury not offering a serious threat going forward. Idle played out the game at 3-1 to secure another vital three points! With 10 games played, we’ve reached the halfway point in the league season and with plenty of points still to play for, Idle are certainly in the mix at the top of the table.
By Jamie Allen
The Playmaker 
Posted on February 12, 2018
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