Lewis On Sport

Darwen and South Liverpool take point-a-piece from entertaining encounter

Darwen and South Liverpool took a point-a-piece from an entertaining encounter on a baltic Wednesday night at The Anchor.

The away side took an early lead through midfielder Rio Merrifield.

But Darwen replied quickly, and eventually ended up going ahead themselves.

Firstly, Ryan Steele equalised, scoring yet another goal for The Reds. Then, Darwen led thanks to a lovely bit of improvisation from Rio Wilson-Heyes.

It wasn’t to last long, however, with Oscar Billington restoring parity just two minutes after Wilson-Heyes’ strike.

With the game level at the interval, both teams looked to snatch all three points in the second half, but it just wasn’t to be, as the score remained 2-2.

The visitors got the game underway.

In the eighth minute, Darwen were slow to react to a free-kick from the left. The ball broke to Merrifield, who directed the ball info the bottom left-hand corner from just inside the area. 0-1.

Darwen had a good opportunity to get themselves back on level terms shortly after Merrifield’s opener, but Wilson-Heyes fired the attempt wide of the right-hand post after latching on to a through ball from Anthony Lynch.

Steele was played through but the keeper was quick off his line to thwart the attack.

Frustratingly, The Salmoners had been much the better team in the opening 15 minutes despite trailing.

Then, the ball broke kindly for Wilson-Heyes in the area, who, with composure, laid the ball off to Steele. The forward took his time to pick his spot before coolly dispatching the ball into the bottom right corner. 1-1. 16 minutes gone.

The away side came closing to re-taking the lead when Mason Nevitt was left unmarked at the back-post. South Liverpool’s number 9 could only volley wide of target.

At the other end, Sam Holt beat a Liverpool man and whipped in a real beauty of a cross from the left-hand side, which looked as if it was about to go begging until Wilson-Heyes took control at the back post and, rather impressively, managed to turn and beat Joseph McCoy in the South Liverpool goal. Darwen in front with 27 minutes on the clock. 2-1.

Unfortunately, Kenny Langford’s men weren’t to be ahead for long. With Steele down injured, Billington unleashed a cross-goal shot from the edge of the area which nestled precisely in the bottom left corner. 2-2.

With half-an-hour gone, Alfie Carmichael replaced the injured Steele.

Just before the break, Darwen had the ball in the back of the net yet again, and it was a superb finish from Wilson-Heyes, who managed to lift the ball – on the volley – over McCoy’s head from a tight angle, but the referee had already awarded what was a soft-looking free-kick.

HALF TIME: DARWEN 2-2 SOUTH LIVERPOOL

SECOND HALF

Darwen got their second half off to a really good start. Just seconds in, Wilson-Heyes whipped in a cracking corner, and Alfie Carmichael rose highest but headed narrowly wide of the left upright.

After this chance, things all went a bit quiet for The Reds as far as going forward was concerned, with the side opting to sit back and soak up some pressure for a spell.

A flurry of Darwen chances brought this spell to an end. Ryan McKenna hitting the crossbar with a header which came in a goalmouth scramble was the best of these.

Moments later, another goalmouth scramble broke to Chris Lynch, but he dragged his shot comfortably wide from close range. Still 2-2.

In the final 20 minutes, the game, unsurprisingly, became a much more end-to-end affair, as both sides went in search of a winner.

A hat trick of chances came the way of scorer of Darwen’s second of the night, Wilson-Heyes, but The Salmoners’ number 10 was unable to add to his tally.

First, he broke into the box from the right and smashed a totally wild attempt well over the crossbar.

Then, David Lynch intercepted a stray ball on the left flank, and crossed to Wilson-Heyes – this time, he miscued a side-footed volley.

Moments later, he was to be denied again by a brilliant last-ditch block by a South Liverpool defender.

Lynch header tipped over by McCoy – another great delivery, credit must go to Rio.

The game died down a bit in the final few minutes, with both sides looking as if they would be happy to take a point, and a point was to be what they each got.

FULL TIME: DARWEN 2-2 SOUTH LIVERPOOL

THE TEAMS

DARWEN

STARTING XI

1. Stefan Holden

2. Luke McKenna

3. Samuel Holt

4. Christopher Lynch (C)

5. Matthew Johnson

6. Martin Middlehurst

7. Anthony Lynch

8. David Lynch

9. Ryan Steele

10. Rio Wilson-Heyes

11. Ryan McKenna

SUBSTITUTES

12. Sandro Da Costa

14. Alfie Carmichael

15. Joe Almond

16. Bobby Langford

17. Lenny Fieldhouse

SOUTH LIVERPOOL

STARTING XI

1. Jacob McCoy

2. Cameron Glennon

3. Ethan Van-Aston

4. Kevin Cringle (C)

5. Andrew Lloyd

6. Fidan Hajdari

7. Rio Merrifield

8. Alex Griffiths

9. Mason Nevitt

10. Stephen Doyle

11. Oscar Billington

SUBSTITUTES

12. James Carr

14. James Cottrell

15. Mohamed Abdi

16. Alexander Birmingham

17. Darryl Mvalo