Denholme open season with entertaining victory

It's behind you! Volunteer Arms' goalkeeper Carl West is left wrong-footed as Oliver Chan's cross drops into the net to give Denholme a 2-0 lead.

Denholme United Res 3 Volunteer Arms Res 1
Denholme got their Halifax League Division Three season off to a winning start in an entertaining match at Foster Park this afternoon.

It was the visitors who made the brighter start with two attacks only lacking in goals due to some comedy control by the Volunteer's strikers with the goal at their mercy.

Denholme soon put those let-offs behind them and went two goals up in quick succession.

Adam Gill fired in the opener from the edge of the penalty area after nine minutes before Oliver Chan's deep cross evaded everyone and dropped into the net seven minutes later.

Tricky wing play: Oliver Chan

Gill looked to have made it 3-0 after 19 minutes when he crashed a powerful shot against the bar from a tight angle. The ball seemed to bounce down over the line but the referee waved play on.

Ben Hardy blazed over at close range for the visitors and Matty Waring had to be alert soon after to save with his legs when Richard Wren burst through in a one-on-one.

Wren did beat Waring after 32 minutes with an audacious lob from inside the centre circle but the ball bounced off the bar.

Chan was causing all sorts of problems for the Halifax visitors with his tricky wing play and he almost set up Jason Hodgson but the centre forward's looping header bounced just the wrong side of a post.

Early in the second half Chan and Lea Kelley beat the visitors' offside trap to close in on goal but Chan's shot was straight at goalkeeper Carl West.

But West stood no chance after 61 minutes when Chan's corner picked out Gill and he slammed his header powerfully into the net to make it 3-0.

Volunteer should have pulled a goal back after 71 minutes when a corner caused havoc in the home six-yard box; the ball being hacked off the line three times in quick succession.

3-0: Adam Gill heads in his second

They did find the net nine minutes later though. Waring was penalised for holding on to the ball for too long and the resultant free-kick from barely eight yards out saw Adam Ivonowski slam the ball into the net off a post.

Waring made amends for his error soon after, racing off his line to deny Arron Green as the away team beat the offside trap with three forwards closing down on him.

That proved to be the last chance for either team.

Denholme: Waring, Goldberg (Flanagan 18), Banham, Henry, Bennett (Kelley 51), Roberts, George, J Gill, Jas Hodgson (Jos Hodgson 69), Chan, A Gill. Substitute (not used): Mattley.

Scorers: A Gill 2 (9, 61), Chan (14).

Volunteer: West, McGuire (Graham h-t), Holdsworth, Neal (Whitehead 71), Ivonowski, Murphy, Wren, Smith, Green, Spalding, Hardy (Pickles 63). 

Scorer: Ivonowski (80).

• See more pictures from the game, here.