Darwen and Rossendale produce entertaining friendly
Darwen and Rossendale put on a show on Wednesday night in a tightly-contested pre-season encounter, with The Stags coming out 4-3 winners.
Scott Wywe opened the scoring after a fairly quiet opening 25 minutes. A further two goals followed in the next 11 minutes as Kenny Langford’s men got themselves level with a goal from new striker Alfie Carmichael before Wywe restored the away side’s lead.
The sides went in at half time with the score-line at 2-1.
Carmichael equalised with a stunning second but then a moment of madness and a thunderbolt from Paul Stannard saw Rossendale establish a two-goal advantage.
To complete the scoring, Gary Basterfield – another new signing – tapped in a consolation with about 15 minutes to go.
As the evening sun shone down on The Anchor, The Salmoners got their third home pre-season friendly underway.
Darwen enjoyed a lot of the early possession, but the first opportunity for either side fell the way of the visitors, however. Scott Wywe was allowed to have a free header at the back post which fell not too far wide of Fieldhouse’s left-hand post.
A couple of minutes later, Darwen registered their first effort on target of the game, when a low shot from Alfie Carmichael was comfortably saved by the Dale keeper.
In the 25th minute, an uneventful spell in the game came to an abrupt end when Darwen fell behind to a cool and composed Scott Wywe finish.
The striker latched on to a long ball over the top and comfortably dispatched past Fieldhouse, rolling the ball into the bottom right-hand corner. 0-1.
The Reds soon replied through Alfie Carmichael after Joe Almond showed brilliant strength to shield the ball from his man and get a shot off. His attempt was saved but Carmichael was in the perfect position to smash the rebound into the bottom left-hand corner. 1-1. 32 minutes on the clock.
Much to Darwen’s disappointment, however, the away side restored their lead almost immediately. Fieldhouse made a great save to stop a fierce cross-goal strike from close range, but couldn’t keep out Scott Wywe’s rebound as the forward claimed his second of the night. 1-2. 36 minutes gone.
As the half-way point approached, Almond would perhaps have been disappointed not to put Darwen back on terms when he raced through on goal only to see his effort saved.
New number 3 Gary Basterfield was a stand out for The Salmoners in the first 45, the full-back was hungry for the ball and looked to get forward and make things happen at every opportunity.
HALF TIME: DARWEN 1-2 ROSSENDALE
SECOND HALF
Less than five minutes into the second 45, the game was all-square again thanks to a moment of brilliance from Alfie Carmichael.
Darwen’s number 10 levelled things up with a thunderous strike on the turn from about 25 yards which flew past Stags keeper Vincent Mcloughlin and into the top right-hand corner. The Best goal of the night by far. 2-2.
In the 54th minute, Rossendale had a fantastic opportunity to go ahead for a third time but Tom Hulme couldn’t convert from close range.
Right on the hour mark, Carmichael couldn’t have come much closer to sealing what would have been a fully-deserved hat-trick when his header flew just a few inches wide of the post.
Despite all of The Salmoners’ positive play, a total lapse in concentration amongst the Darwen backline allowed the visitors to re-take the lead. 3-2. 64 minutes on the clock.
The game then came to a stop for a while whilst Darwen midfielder Nathan Bond received some treatment.
Not long after play resumed, Rossendale added a fantastic fourth that gave Carmichael’s second goal a run for its money. Running on to a lay-off, Paul Stannard smashed the ball into the top left-hand corner from about 30 yards out. 2-4.
With a quarter of an hour to go, Gary Basterfield added to his stellar first-half performance with a goal to bring Darwen back into the game.
Unfortunately though, Darwen failed to muster any real chances to get themselves level for a third time and posed no real threat to Rossendale’s lead in the closing stages.
FULL TIME: DARWEN 3-4 ROSSENDALE
ATT: 101
The referee’s whistle brought an end to a thoroughly entertaining fitness-building encounter.
THE TEAMS
DARWEN
STARTING XI
1. Lenny Fieldhouse
2. Finn Phillips
3. Gary Basterfield
4. Christopher Lynch
5. Luke McKenna
6. Martin Middlehurst
7. Toby Humphries
8. Nathan Bond
9. Joe Almond
10. Alfie Carmichael
11. Rio Wilson-Heyes
SUBSTITUTES
12. Josh Aspinall
14. Bobby Langford
15. David Lang
16. Trialist
18. Trialist
19. Trialist
ROSSENDALE
STARTING XI
1. Vincent McLoughlin
2. Jordan Hilton
3. Joe Howarth
4. Simon Nangle
5. Adam McGuiness
6. Michael Saunders
7. Luke Simpson
8. Tony Hartley
9. Scott Wywe
10. Paul Stannard
11. Tom Hulme
SUBSTITUTES
12. Sam Muriarty
13. Owen Bwghty
14. Jack Mousey
15. Oliver Williams
16. Jonathan Booth
18. George Brown
19. Jack Cassidy
Lewis On Sport 
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