West Riding County Challenge Trophy 5th Round – Saturday 9th February
Full-time: Huddersfield YMCA Reserves 2-1 Idle FC
Goals: J. Strudwick
MOTM: T. Holmes
Idle crashed out of the County Cup at the hands of Huddersfield YMCA on Saturday after what was a disappointing performance.
The whole day didn’t get off the the best of starts with Lee Cookson dropping out at the eleventh hour! Thus leaving Idle up the proverbial sh*t creak with a paddle. Cheers Lovren ya ding…
The lads started the match really poorly with no one looking particularly interested in the game at all. YM were entirely in control in the first half as Idle afforded them all the time and space they could want.
YM were building pressure, working the ball out wide to the left hand side where Tom Holmes was becoming isolated against the left-winger and strikers.
Although YM had a couple of chances early on, they only managed to break the deadlock from a set-piece. A corner was whipped into the near post and the YM forward, completely unmarked powered his header into the roof of the net. 1-0.
Idle slowly began to crawl out of bed and attempt to get back into the game. Jonny Dearing and Carl Dawson began driving the ball forward through centre midfield, feeding Tom Simonett and Ash Maitland up front.
However the final pass was severely lacking and most attacks broke down before reaching the final third.
Idle’s best chance in the first half came from a corner floated in by Jack Strudwick but Dearing and Maitland failed to meet it at the far post.
YM added a second goal midway through the first half after a miss-kicked clearance from Idle goalkeeper, Josh Dickinson was pounced on by the YM midfielder who fed the ball to the forward who finished calmly despite the last ditch scramble from the Idle defence.
Half-time arrived with the score at 2-0 and YM cruising to the next round.
Marcus Strudwick and Rob Brook managed to put some sort of fire back into the Idle performance at the interval and the lads came out fighting.
YM didn’t offer much in the second half having pretty much won the game in the first 45 minutes.
Idle substitutions were needed and Adam Medley and Ash Maitland made way for Jamie Allen and Ben Dearnley.
Allen came in at right centre back with Holmes moving to right-wing back. Dearnley was a straight swap up-front.
Today’s Man of the Match award, sponsored by Richards Family Fisheries goes to Tom Holmes for his tireless display across a number of positions.
Arguably it was the substitutions that altered the flow of the game. Idle began playing direct passes out from the back into midfield and the forwards and it was this type of play that got Idle back into the game.
Allen driving the ball out of defence found Holmes who continued to dribble the ball into the YM third of the pitch. Holmes then picked out a pinpoint pass to J. Strudwick just inside the box whose sublime, first-time shot looped perfectly over the keeper into the top corner. 2-1 and the momentum was in Idle’s favour.
Despite the shift in momentum, Idle struggled to fashion any clear cut chances. A number of consecutive corners eventually lead to a goalmouth scramble where in quick succession, Conor Halligan and Callum Churm both failed to get a clean strike at goal thanks to some solid last ditch defending from YM.
The YM keeper then made a couple of crucial saves late on as Idle pushed until the last minute for the equaliser. However, it wasn’t to be and the game ended 2-1 with YM taking their place in the next round. And truth be told, it was probably exactly what they deserved.
The Idle lads know full well they can’t have 45 minutes like the first half of this game and expect to get a result.
It’s back to the league next with back-to-back fixtures against Whitkirk where only victories will do for the Blues!
By Jamie Allen
The Playmaker 
Posted on February 15, 2019
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