Late Daniels penalty secures victory for Heys

by Stephen Howard

Goals from Jack Coop and Greg Daniels gave Heys a hard earned 2-0 win over Padiham at Adie Moran Park on Tuesday night.

After back-to-back defeats in League and Cup this was a much needed three points for Heys who had to dig deep against a lively Padiham side who will justifiably feel they should have got something from the game. That’s not to say that Heys too didn’t have their moments in a high tempo game and the hosts showed great resilience, as well as making a couple of their opportunities count, to take the points.

Heys keeper Jordan Hadlow pulled off several fine saves over the course of the evening and was in action as early as the 3rd minute when Remi Thompson crossed deep to pick out Joel Brownhill at the far post, whose header looked to be heading in, but the Heys keeper adjusted superbly and stretched out a leg to keep the ball out.

The visitors continued to enjoy the better of things and Thompson went close in the 20th minute latching onto a cross but at full stretch he could only put the ball back across the face of goal. A good spell of pressure from the visitors followed and Jacob Ngoy and Nathan Bartram-Conway both had to be alert in blocking goal bound shots.

Heys had struggled to establish any attacking rhythm and it was not until the 35th minute that they had their real sight of goal when a quickly taken free kick caught the away side out with Brad Sixsmith breaking into the box only to see his shot pushed around the post by Matthew Hamnett.

It signalled the hosts best spell of attacking play of the game so far and in the 39th minute they took the lead when a deep cross to the far post by Matt Davies was headed back across goal by Sixsmith and as the ball dropped Coop swooped, leaning back and hitting the ball on the turn into the net from close range. A great finish!

Heys were to hold the lead to the break but were grateful to Hadlow for doing so as on the stroke of half time he had to drop low to keep out a shot from the edge of the area by Brownhill.

The home side started the better on the restart as they looked to add to their lead creating a couple of half chances before Coop fired in a 56th minute shot that was headed off the line.

It was a moment that was to spark a crazy twenty-minute spell that saw numerous chances at both ends. As Padiham looked to level, Brownhill fired wide and then just after the hour Joel Melia broke into the box to get in an angled shot that beat Hadlow but, fortunately for the hosts, Sixsmith was back to head off the line.

Padiham’s Jack Gooden then saw a shot pushed onto the post and wide by Hadlow before Heys swept up field with Tyler James, who had just replaced Luke Nicholls, getting straight into the action, seeing a shot blocked by the keeper before Davies, on the rebound, fired over.

The action then shifted to the other end with Hadlow again excelling in as he went full stretch to keep out a Brownhill shot.

A lengthy stoppage for an injury to the visitors Tyler Beck brought a break in the play but the thrills continued on the restart as in the 84th minute Bartram-Conway nearly scored from his own half for Heys. With what was effectively a hefty clearance, but with Hamnett way out of his goal, it almost turned into a decisive second for the hosts before the ball drifted wide.

Padiham then threw everything into searching for an equaliser and in the final minute of the ninety as Heys struggled to clear a corner, a low shot by Levi Lewis took a deflection but Hadlow pounced to hold the ball on the line.

However, with Padiham committing everything to attack they were susceptible to the counter and in the 92nd minute Heys sealed victory. A lightning break saw James being pursued by a couple of defenders, but as he broke into the box he was clipped and down he went giving the referee an easy decision in awarding the penalty from which Greg Daniels slotted home to secure a hard-earned victory for Heys.

TEAM: Jordan Hadlow, Jacob Ngoy, Saidkhon Khamidov, Darcy O’Connor, Nathan Bartram-Conway, Nathan Bartram-Conway, Brad Sixsmith, Kai Haigh, Jack Coop, Matt Davies, Luke Nicholls, Subs: Kayle Power, Russell Saunders, Tyler James (for Nicholls 60 mins), Rio Wilson-Heyes, Greg Daniels (for Coop 65 mins)