Khartoum fall foul of Oddies’ game plan

Photo: Pictures by CHRIS SUNDERLAND

BACK-TO-BACK: Kartoum Northern goalkeeper Lee Mullen clears from Oddies’ Wayne Mayberry.

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Oddies 3, Khartoum Northern 0

FOTBALL: A GAME plan executed to perfection served Oddies well as they ran out convincing winners against table-topping Khartoum Northern in the D&J Builders (North West) Ltd Oldham Sunday League Jack Abbott premier division.

Khartoum had their chances, most notably when the home side’s crossbar was rattled shortly after Chris Crothers’ early opening goal for the home side.

But such opportunities were few and far between as Oddies’ ability to strike on the break, allied to a brace of almost carbon-copy set-piece goals, proved too much for Khartoum.

And on a sunny afternoon at Clayton playing fields, with the gentlest of breezes blowing across the pitch, Oddies had the heady scent of revenge in their nostrils.

The two sides had met on the opening day of the season with Khartoum emerging 5-2 winners.

Oddies chairman Nick Parry said: “We defended deep and played very much on the counter attack, only this time we didn’t leave any gaps at the back as we went forward.

“We invited Khartoum to play across us, rather than through us and it served us well.

“On the balance of play, I thought we deserved the win.”

Oddies got off to the perfect start when, following the break up of a Khartoum offensive, Ricky Cropper raced down the left before delivering a low cross into the path of Crothers, who side-footed home from 10 yards.

They doubled their advantage midway through the first half when Chris Fahey’s long throw was flicked on by Mick Hill for Cropper to score with a close-range volley.

The issue was put beyond doubt with 16 minutes to go when Fahey launched another missile of a throw to the head of Hill, whose touch allowed Cropper to smash the ball home.

The two sides meet again next month in the first round of the President’s Trophy.

ODDIES: Lunt, Dawson, Slowe, Hill, Dolmor, A Cropper, Taylor, Fahey, R Cropper, Mayberry, Crothers. Sub: Day.

KHARTOUM NORTHERN: Mullen, Pomfrey, Simpson, Caffrey, Worth, K Radcliffe, R Radcliffe, Murdoch, N Radcliffe, Dickinson, Stafford. Subs: Hough, Howe, Cavanagh.
Referee: Z Eko.