There’s never a dull moment watching The Ambers at the minute, and the third game of pre-season followed exactly the same script as the first two, in that The Ambers played well to build up a comfortable lead before allowing the opposition, in this case Retford United, a chance to get something out of the game. Undoubtedly, this is due in no small part on the changes being made to allow the management to have a look at different players and different formations, so it is understandable, if a little concerning to the watching faithful.
The Ambers carved out numerous chances and should have led comfortably at half time but in the end they had to rely on Scott Ruthven’s last ditch penalty kick, awarded after Mitch Dunne had been brought down in the area, to go into the break in front.
The Badgers had a great chance to level things up within a minute of the re-start when they were awarded a penalty of their own, but Luke Chadwick dived to his right to push away the well struck effort and keep The Ambers ahead, and the lead was doubled just after the hour mark when Dunne slotted home from close range after Ruthven had beaten the offside trap to race onto Henry Carne’s clever through ball.
Things got even better five minutes later when Dunne, aiming to control a cross from the right, inadvertently deflected the ball past the wrong footed United keeper to seemingly put the result beyond doubt, but two decent strikes in the closing stages, the second a beauty from ex Amber Finlaw, saw the margin tightened up, but The Ambers held on for a deserved win in what had been an excellent game.
Next up for The Ambers is a visit to Eastwood CFC on Tuesday evening. Keep an eye on social media as there seem to be some confusion over the kick off time.