0 Comments | Grimsby Telegraph, Aug 11, 2010
GRIMSBY Borough suffered an opening day defeat in their Koolsport Northern Counties Division One clash with Staveley Miners Welfare, going down 3-2. Borough, who are sponsored by the Grimsby Institute, travelled to Derbyshire expecting a tough encounter and that’s exactly how it turned out.
Manager Steve Newby welcomed debutants Damien Steer, Danny Freeman, Tom Parker and Dave Smith to the side for the away match.
But it was the hosts who were quickest out of the blocks.
Within two minutes, Staveley pressure led to a couple of good chances being wasted.
Borough finally managed an attack and only desperate defending prevented Luke Fanthorpe from getting off a shot.
Fanthorpe was unfortunate again soon after, just failing to make contact with the ball after a brilliant overlap and cross by right back Tommi Wright.
The game was struggling to find a pattern and both teams looked slightly out of sorts.
Borough keeper, Steer was called into action when, from a corner, a mix up in the defence resulted in a snapshot being fired from the edge of the six-yard box which the keeper saved well.
The visitors then forced a couple of strong attacks with former Town Youth striker Freeman proving himself a real threat up front.
He worried the Staveley defence with his runs and his gritty deter mination.
On 35 minutes, the Borough forward broke clear and, as he entered the area, he was clattered to the floor but the referee waved away penalty appeals.
Half-time came with neither side able to stamp any authority on the game in the first 45 minutes.
The second-half kicked off with no changes to either side.
And the deadlock was broken in the 50th minute when, after a long clearance by Toyne, Freeman surged into the area, rounded the keeper and, from the acutest of angles, side-footed the ball into the empty net.
Five minutes later Fanthorpe doubled Borough’s lead to put them in the driving seat.
But Staveley hit back with three goals in 20 minutes to sink a very impressive Borough side and save the blushes of a home outfit tipped for the championship this season.