Lewis On Sport

Darwen left frustrated at officials after narrow St. Helens defeat

Darwen were left frustrated by the questionable standard of officiating in their 2-1 defeat to St. Helens at The Anchor on Saturday afternoon.

Kenny Langford’s men got off to the best possible start, however, as Rio Wilson-Heyes scored from the penalty spot inside the opening five minutes.

But referee Genaro Contursi’s decision to send off Darwen keeper Lenny Fieldhouse changed the game, as St. Helens levelled with a free-kick before taking the lead in the second half.

Darwen struggled after Fieldhouse saw red and never created a clear-cut chance after the stopper received his marching orders.

After an impeccably observed minute’s silence in memoriam of Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, the game got underway.

Darwen started brightly and could have gone ahead when a cross from Wilson-Heyes narrowly evaded two men in the box.

Moments later, The Reds were awarded a penalty for a foul on Nathan Bond by the St. Helens keeper.

Wilson-Heyes coolly slotted the penalty into the bottom left-hand corner. 1-0. 5 minutes gone.

Alfie Carmichael was played through one-on-one after a really nice Salmoners move through the centre but The Reds’ frontman was dubiously adjudged to be offside.

Billy Flitcroft then made a superb block to maintain Darwen’s lead.

As the half wore-on, Darwen were looking well in control of proceedings and capable of dealing with anything that the visitors were attempting to throw at them.

But trouble was to lay ahead for Kenny Langford’s men.

A collision between Salmoners keeper Lenny Fieldhouse and a St Helens player at the edge of the Darwen penalty area led to a lengthy break in play as both players received treatment.

As the players readied themselves for the restart, referee took the bizarre decisions to give a free-kick and send Fieldhouse off for his part in the collision.

Steele was taken off and replaced by Stefan Holden.

From the resulting free-kick, the visitors’ number 7 Jack Graham equalised, curling the ball around the Darwen wall and beyond Holden inside his right-hand post. 1-1. 40 minutes on the clock.

The sending off of Fieldhouse unsurprisingly changed the whole feel and nature of the game, with Darwen left unable to mount a period of sustained pressure how they had before.

HALF TIME: DARWEN 1-1 ST HELENS

SECOND HALF

Darwen came out for the second half in the knowledge that they would really have to be at it to counter St Helens’ man advantage.

The contest evolved into quite the end-to-end affair in the second half as Darwen looked vulnerable on the break.

A mistake by Sam Knowles fell into the path of St. Helens’ skipper Liam Houghton who side-footed past Holden with his left peg from the edge of the area with relative ease. 66 minutes gone, 1-2.

After taking the lead, the away side stamped some authority on the game.

A brilliant save from Holden quarter of an hour from time kept Darwen in the game.

St. Helens enjoyed more and more of the ball as the game almost meandered towards full time.

A superb last-ditch tackle at the back post denied the visitors what surely would have been a third, points-sealing goal.

The away side again went close to establishing a two-goal advantage when a goal-mouth scramble fell just wide of Holden’s goal.

As they again pushed for a third goal, the visitors struck the woodwork.

With seconds to go, Darwen won a free-kick just in front of the half way line – last chance saloon.

Holden came up, and the free-kick was lofted into the area, no real chance came of it though as the St. Helens keeper rose highest to punch clear.

The referee’s whistle condemned Darwen to defeat.

FULL TIME: DARWEN 1-2 ST. HELENS

The result leaves Kenny Langford’s men 16th in the league table.

THE TEAMS

DARWEN

STARTING XI

1. Lenny Fieldhouse

2. Ryan McKenna

3. Sandro Da Costa

4. Christopher Lynch

5. Sam Knowles

6. David Lynch

7. Rio Wilson-Heyes

18. Billy Flitcroft

9. Ryan Steele

10. Alfie Carmichael

11. Nathan Bond (C)

SUBSTITUTES

12. Jack Bennett

14. Anthony Lynch

15. Joe Almond

16. Rocco Carnovale

17. Stefan Holden

ST. HELENS

STARTING XI

1. Joe Mason

2. Steve Ashton

3. Jack Ball

4. Jacob Stretch

5. Zak Riley

6. Elliott Bradshaw

7. Jack Graham

8. Nathan Dutton-Kay

9. Joe Barker

10. Liam Houghton (C)

11. Thomas Scarborough

SUBSTITUTES

12. Ryan Mason

13. Liam Bott

14. John Edgerton

15. Paul Sweeney

ATT: 91