Hillmen Slip On Yellow Banana Skin

The Hillmen turned in their poorest performance of the season on Saturday when up against promotion rivals Town, and found the home side ready to pounce on their hesitancy ruthlessly. In the words of Daft Punk, The Yellows were Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.

There was an early warning when Nathan Burke was given lots of space to shoot wide of the upright from 25 yards. However, it was unheeded, and in the 7th minute Scott Metcalfe was put through on the angle. Debutant keeper Lewis King saved and pushed it away but Chris Gaghan reacted quickest to pick up the rebound and net from 12 yards.

North End were stretched and Eddie Moran had to nip in to clear a pass from Ben Deegan that Ciaran Kilheeney was just waiting to despatch into the net. On 18 minutes Gaghan nearly netted his second with a sidefoot shot but King did well to push the ball wide.

However from the corner the ball was whipped along the 6 yard box and in a crowd of players Deegan beat King to the ball as he came to punch and headed the ball into the unguarded net.

Josh Brizzell did at least get a shot in, although it was way over, but Glossop continued to struggle against the pace and power of the home side. Metcalfe was put through but his first touch let him down and King was able to come off his line and affect the stop.

At the other end, Glossop North End did create one chance where Astley Mulholland’s shot to the near post was fumbled wide by the keeper but on 44 minutes the game was effectively put beyond the Hillmen. The Yellows broke down the right and put in a deep cross. The ball sailed over the defence and Metcalfe appeared to have an age to wait for it to land at the back post, although his volley across King and into the far post was top quality.

There was no disguising the Glossop North End display had not been good enough and Chris Willcock made a triple change at half time, Tom Bailey, Danny White and Mark Reed being sent into the fray. On the whole, this succeeded in shoring up the midfield and defence that had looked so shaky, but the Hillmen were still largely toothless up front with Jamie Rainford forced to sit out the game.

Warrington were content to hold on to what they had, and on this day Glossop North Endp did not have it in them to cause some anxiety by putting them under serious pressure.

North End are just having a little wobble at the moment. Their fans aren’t used to it, having been spoiled over the last couple of years. Glossop have a run of home games coming up before Christmas – their next away match is at Mossley on Boxing Day – and having given the fans plenty to cheer about of late will need the fans to back them first over this difficult period.