It was a cold afternoon in East Manchester and a delayed kick off due to Telford’s late arrival left the 300+ crowd at the Tameside Stadium waiting even longer before they saw some action. Curzon lined up with three changes from Tuesday’s loss against Blyth with Peers, Hobson and Richards all returning to the starting 11 in place of Dimaio, Hayhurst and Hancock. Telford made just two changes to their side that lost to Kidderminster Harriers midweek with Sloane and Sharif replacing Brown and Piggott. This meant a Curzon return for former centre half Harry Flowers who left to join Telford midway through last season.
After a 20-minute delay, the teams finally emerged from the tunnel with the famous lyrics of The Clash’s “Rock the Casbah” blasting through the PA system. Both sets of teams were well supported with Telford bringing good numbers, despite a lack of public transport on the day.
The game started very slowly- possibly to do with the travelling side’s lack of a warmup. Curzon’s big target man, Craig Hobson was very involved in the opening exchanges after receiving a warning from the referee for a scuffle and then mis controlling the ball as he was about to go clean through on the Telford goal. Curzon had all the ball in the opening 10 minutes until Telford’s skipper, Blissett, went clean through, rounded Renshaw in the Curzon goal only to smash it wide and miss a golden opportunity for Telford to take the lead against the run of play.
Curzon then managed to get back on top with new signing Benni Smales-Braithwaite leading almost every attack for them. His efforts were nearly awarded in the 17th minute when he picked up the ball on the left before cutting in and drilling a shot towards goal, only for Sloane to block it at full stretch. Curzon’s period of dominance didn’t end there, however. Marcus Poscha pumped the ball forward looking for the six-foot four figure of Craig Hobson, but he was beaten in the air by ex-Curzon man Flowers whose clearance only went as far as Smales-Braithwaite. The Curzon number 14 then dribbled past two Telford men before calming slotting it past Pilling into the Telford goal to give Curzon a well-deserved lead. Following the goal, the game went rather stale with neither side pushing forward. That was until the 34th minute however when Curzon centre back, Matthews went on a 50-yard run through the midfield before being wiped out by Flowers who received a yellow card for his troubles. The resulting free kick was floated into the classic “corridor of uncertainty” and Connor Hampson rose highest to glance the ball into the back of the net to double Curzon’s lead. Telford bounced back well with clear dangerman Blissett challenging Renshaw twice in 5 minutes, but the Curzon number one was able to match him both times. Things went from bad to worse for Telford just before the interval with a great move from Curzon. Hobson switched the play from right to left with a great ball to Smales-Braithwaite who crossed it into Hobson again. His header was only good enough to hit the post however the ball fell to Richards who smashed the ball across the keeper into the far top corner. Richards has probably never hit a ball so well in his life and is likely to never to do so again. Curzon were dominating and their three-goal lead at the break reflected this. The referee’s half time whistle was met by loud boos from the travelling fans who haven’t seen their side win a league game since the opening day.
Telford came out in the second half much better; one can only assume their manager gave them all something to think about at half time. Once again, it was Blissett who was causing Curzon problems at the back, but his early second half effort could only be dragged wide. Telford made a couple of changes early in the second half as they chased the game with Sloane and Daniels being replaced by Bood and former Curzon captain Robbie Evans. These subs didn’t help Telford continue their fast start to the half as Curzon got back into their stride and were applying pressure to Telford’s backline again. Their latest attack could only be stopped on the edge of the box with a foul from Jamie Allen who joined his teammate Flowers in the referee’s book. Mahon’s resulting free kick could only be smashed into the wall, however. Curzon dangerman, Craig Hobson, was then replaced by Darren Stephenson as Curzon look to ease their new man back to fitness after his move from Chester earlier this week. Stevenson was straight into the action in the 70th minute after he received the ball out wide from Mahon, who was running the show, Stevenson then took on the Telford full back before smashing the ball into the side netting- only for the referee to somehow give a corner. The resulting corner was well headed away by Allen and the ball fell to Daniels who skipped past Mahon, Richards then Mahon again before eventually being brought down on the halfway line. The game started to die out after this with Telford playing damage limitation by passing it around the back, and Curzon being very happy to let them do so. The only real moment of significance in the closing minutes was a Curzon substitution which saw man of the match Benni Smales-Braithwaite be replaced by Will Hayhurst. The referee then blew up for full time and Curzon picked up a well-deserved three points- their first for a month. They’ll be hopeful they can carry this momentum into next week’s big away game at Chorley. Telford on the other hand will be wondering where they go from here as they look like they couldn’t buy a win at the minute, however, they’ll have to try again next week as they host Banbury United.
Curzon Ashton 3-0 Telford United.
Written by Ben Sinclair
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