Ben Rhydding Men’s 1stXI 1 Leek 3

This was a much better performance by Rhydding who again showed they can compete at this level.

Coach, Demi Dowley, and manager, Mark French, made some fairly radical changes to positions and strategy putting Neil Sugden at right half and Danny Foster up front with Sam French dropping into midfield.

Playing a more defensive game Rhydding went ahead when French converted their first short corner.

As is often the case when times are hard, luck seemed to go against Rhydding as Myles Locke, who had a steady game, was adjudged to have made an illegal block tackle from which Leek got a short corner which they converted.

Leek then took the lead but Rhydding did not implode as in previous matches.

They had further chances with Mark Wilson scooping one just wide, French seeing their second short deflected just wide and Luke Lambert narrowly failing to connect after a sharp run by David Swarbrick.

Leek added a third in the second half and also could have got more but David Carter in the Rhydding goal was on top form particularly when faced with a one on one which he never looked likely to lose.

Rhydding have break this weekend as French, Locke and Max Helme are away playing for the North at an England U-18 trial for four days but their next match is one of huge importance as they travel to fellow strugglers, Harborne, in two weeks.

Ben Rhydding Men’s 2nds 2 Driffield 2 The performances are continuing to improve for the second team and despite falling behind twice to the league’s second-placed team, they bounced back quickly on each occasion and finished the game ruing the chances that should have given them a first league win.

At all times, this was a fair, but physical encounter, with both teams having a good mix of youth and experience.

With Pilling settling into the role of sweeper and Stather joining Gibson to create an experienced back line, there was a more solid feel to the previously leaky Rhydding defence.

Weaver was back to his agile and vocal best in goal after a knee injury and with the midfielders Cussons and Langley constantly putting their bodies on the line, the team all of a sudden feels a lot more difficult to beat.

However, you can never take anything for granted and Driffield shared a fair amount of possession and won a couple of short corners midway through the first half.

One of these was converted by a weak, but awkward and bobbling flick which snuck in the right hand corner.

Ben Rhydding hit straight back and having created a few chances at short corners, they finally worked an opening for Connor Dowley to score.

The second half was similar to the first, with shared possession early on.

It was Driffield again who broke the deadlock with a well-worked goal, but once again Rhydding came back and finished the game by dominating possession.

Good movement of the ball, from the defence to the attack at pace kept Driffield on the back foot.

With Cussons and Langley pulling the strings and Dowley and Cutter creating havoc in the Driffield defence, the pressure built.

Finally Cutter slammed home a short corner. he also and a shot cleared from the line when Ben Rhydding pushed for the win.