The Owls made just one chance to the starting line-up, which beat league leaders Tadcaster Albion on Tuesday night. Jack Richardson came in for the unavailable Darren Hanslip.

The match start off as bad as you could of imagined for the Owls as in just the second minute, Adam White was played clean through on goal inside the box where he had he heels clipped by Lawrence Heward for a definite penalty. This was duly converted by Mackie, sending the keeper the wrong way and the away fans in ecstasy.

The Owls tried to instantly reply in the form of Jack Barlow but his mazy run did not have finesse that the run had as his shot was weak and straight at the keeper.

Just two minutes later, a foul drawn in from Richardson just outside the box saw the free-kick thundered goalwards but the wall did its job and it was cleared to safety.

With the one-goal advantage Athersley seemed to rest on their laurels and this was evident with the lack of creativity up front. They did summon up a half-chance in the 15th minute but a brilliant ball in from White could of be latched onto and the ball trickled behind up a goal kick.

It was left-back Lawrence Heward's turn next to miss the target, as in the 18th minute a delightful ball in from Alex Flett could not be converted as Heward's headed was directed just off target.

Leading scorer, Marc Cooper then saw his right-footed attempted narrowly miss the far upright after Luke Mascall’s lofted cross found the striker in space.

The Owls came even closer to scoring just 90 seconds later as a free kick from 25 yards out was deflected into the path of centre-back Liam Dickens but his effort came back off the woodwork much to he dismay.

The flurry of chances kept coming for the Owls, this time Barlow saw his snap shot fly just wide of the keepers right hand post.
Athersley did muster up an effort on goal, but it was off target and didn’t trouble Brad Beattie in the Owls goal.

With the clock ticking down and half-time nearing, the Owls pushed further forward in search of the equaliser. However, efforts from Flett and Cooper both didn’t trouble the keeper much to their annoyance. Just before the whistle was blown, it was Athersley who came the closest of all to scoring but White blasted the ball over the bar from just outside the box.

The second half started with the Owls in an offensive set-up. Just three minutes into the half, Flett nearly had the ball in the back of the net but a deflection from a free kick, 20 yards out took the flight of the ball narrowly over the bar which would of given the keeper no chance.

The pressure was unrelenting as successive corners had to be defended by Athersley after Mascall tested the keeper from a narrow angle. From the second corner, the ball worked its way to Robertson just on the edge of the area but he could only find the stand behind the goal.

The Owls made their first substitution of the game in the 51st minute as Jonathan Oglesby replaced Louis Grant. This had an immediate impact as Oglesby got ahold of the ball, took it past two players and delivered a pinpoint cross into the path of Robertson but he headed over from just 8 yards out.

A moment of controversy occurred in the 59th minute as Heward had appeared to have equalised following a floated cross in and a glancing header but it was ruled out for an offside.

The chances kept coming, with Dickens heading over from a Flett free kick, then Penn in the Athersley goal made a smart save from Dickens as a short corner was blasted goal-bound but strong hands from the shot stopper prevented Dickens from scoring third goal of the campaign.

With time ticking down, the Owls made two further changes as Jack Debnam and Kirk Wheeler came on to replace Barlow and Heward. Once again, the substitutions nearly paid off as Debnam came almightily close to levelling the game through an overhead kick but the ball went wide of the mark with 15 minutes of the game left.
Seconds later, Debnam was once again involved as Flett whipped the ball in from the left, Debnam dummied the ball but the flight of the ball took it just wide of the mark.

As with similar moves before, the Owls still struggled to get the ball past the Athersley keeper and when they did the ball seemed to be attracted to the stand behind the goal.

With just less than ten minutes remaining Oglesby sent a thunderbolt of a shot towards Penn’s goal but this was whiskers over the bar, then moments later great defending from Brettoner kept Cooper off the scoresheet as the ball was delivered inch perfect to the back post but Cooper was just beaten to the ball.

For the last five minutes of the game, the Owls changed formation and went 3-3-4 in hope of an equaliser but this didn’t emerge. Firstly, Cooper dragged a shot wide, then Flett produced a great strike from 30 yards out, which was smartly saved by Penn. Then, as the clock ticked into injury time, Flett once again saw his shot saved then Oglesby shot over the bar from a free kick just outside the area.
The last action of the game came in the 97th minute as the ball was clipped in by Mascall, it was headed clear by Cook into the path of Oglesby but he could not keep his shot down and it went out for the final goal kick.

Athersley seemed to “park the bus” once they had scored and this is quite evident from the statistics from the game. Good luck to them for the rest of the season.

Cleethorpes Town are next in action away from home against Garforth Town next Saturday then on the 27th December, they are at home against Armthorpe Welfare.

Cleethorpes Town
Possession 63%
Shots ON Target 7
Shots OFF Target 15
Shots in TOTAL 22
Fouls committed 10
Fouls received 19

Athersley
Possession 37%
Shots ON Target 4
Shots OFF Target 7
Shots in TOTAL 11
Fouls committed 19
Fouls received 10