The Peacocks withstood a fightback from the home side to emerge 3-2 winners at Larkhall Athletic in the Evo-Stik League yesterday afternoon (2nd December).
The result stretches Town’s unbeaten league run to eight matches although what appeared to be heading for a straightforward victory after going 3-0 up turned into more of a battle after the Larks pulled two goals back. The Peacocks made an ideal start with Pierce Mitchell converting Ben Palmer’s cross at the far post for the opening goal after nine minutes and although both sides had half chances during the remainder of the half there was no further scoring. Two goals within the first ten minutes of the second half then put Town well in control. Chris McGrath headed home from Ryan Brett’s corner after 50 minutes before Dan Sullivan ran through to round keeper Shaun Semmens and net four minutes later. Joe Tumelty fed George King who reduced the arrears on 65 minutes with a shot inside Lloyd Irish’s post and when Matt Britton’s header from Tumelty’s corner went in via a deflection off Matt Buse with seven minutes remaining, things became less comfortable. However Town saw the rest of the game out without too much trouble to maintain their four point advantage at the top.
Reaction | Manager Leigh Robinson said: “A good win to round off another really good week. FA Trophy first round and four away points from two tricky games is a very decent effort from the boys. We knew today wouldn’t be pretty on a heavy pitch and that is how it turned out but we showed plenty of stomach for the fight, applied ourselves well and showed a clinical touch in front of goal. The last 15 minutes became a bit nervier than we would have liked as we dropped off a bit which we mustn’t make a habit of but it was all about the result today and we’re really happy with the points.”
Captain Matt Wright commented:” A great result at a place that’s very hard to go to in winter. We came unstuck there last year and I think that shows how far we have come as a team. We had to dig deep in the closing stages of the game to ensure we got a massive three points away from home. Fans were fantastic as always. See you all Tuesday. Up The Peacocks!”