Saturday’s match report
Hard earnt away point for Flowserve !
Flowserve started the day in 2nd place as they hit the road for Derby to face 4th placed Graham Street Prims , Flowserve fielded a strong squad in a side that saw Solomon Miller return from suspension and Jack Beckett from injury , The first 15 minutes saw a cagey affair as both sides showed mutual respect not wanting to gift any opportunities to each other but it was Prims who broke the deadlock on 18 minutes as a good header from a well delivered corner made it past the challenging defence and a sprawling dive from Adebowale in goal, prims continued to look dangerous from set pieces with some great deliveries and a big strong target man up front, The Flowserve defence stood strong limiting any clear cut opportunities in a 1st half that was mainly maintained held at a frantic pace.
Flowserve constantly piled pressure on the Prims goal without providing the usual clinical finishing we have grown accustomed to see as one of the top scoring teams at step 6 throughout the country , in the 35th minute the pressure was awarded with a penalty kick which marksman Sam Agar made no mistake in dispatching , HALF –TIME 1-1.
Three minutes into the 2nd half prims were awarded a penalty after a mix up in 6 yard box which Fitzhugh neatly converted , neither side managed to take the game by the scruff of the neck as Flowserve took advantage pulled themselves back level on the hour mark after a long throw into the box From Miller was headed away only as far as the oncoming Danny Meadows who fired a half volley from 20 yards past a congested penalty area and the unsighted prims keeper.
As the game looked destined to end up in an advancing Flowserve win it was on 68 minutes when the prims midfield was allowed too much time and space to play Fitzhugh through on goal to finish Crisply in the corner of the Flowserve net to claim his 2nd goal of the game, Flowserve refused to give in and the lively Callum Smith and Jammy Lloyd on as a subs were causing extra problems for the determined prims to deal with. On 74 minutes Agar was neatly laid in on goal before being taken down by a desperate prims challenge to be awarded his 2nd penalty of the game which was converted to take his tally to 11 goals in 11 games.
On reflection Joint Managers Kirkham & Roche said they were happy to come away from a tough away game with a point especially on a day when the standard set so far this season was slightly under par but the realisation for Flowserve is that the league is extremely competitive and any points picked up away from home are valuable. Home results are going to be critical to maintain a top half of the table finish and that home form comes with huge thanks to the local support that the team has received so far making Lowfields a fortress. Flowserve have a tough run of fixtures away from home in the coming months and will be looking to take as many points back home as possible, we currently sit 3rd in the league in our first season at step 6 and if that was offered to us at this stage before the season kicked off we would have taken it for sure.
This Saturday Flowserve travel to shepshed to face Ingles fc who were also promoted to the league this season after being crowned champions of the Leicestershire senior league last campaign.
