Daisy Hill extended their unbeaten away run in the North West Counties League First Division North to six games, with a fine 3-1 win away at AFC Blackpool on Saturday.
After going behind early on, Alex Dodd levelled for Daisy with a fine strike midway through the first half, and after the break an opportunist goal from Liam Sheppard, and a penalty from captain Jake O’Brien, rounded off a good afternoon’s work.
Daisy assistant manager, Jack Iley, summed up the feelings in the visiting camp afterwards.
“There was plenty to be pleased about, although the first 30-35 minutes maybe didn’t go exactly as we wanted it to,” said Iley.
“We started slowly and I’m not sure why that was, we did make two changes at the back and maybe that brought a bit of instability, sometimes that happens.
“We tend to start games quite well, so it was a bit of a surprise to see that. AFC Blackpool had chances and didn’t take them, and Morgan (Newns, Daisy goalkeeper), made a couple of good saves
“But from the last 10 minutes in the first half I thought we were really good, and we carried that on into the second half, and I felt we were in control for the majority of the second half.
“We had a couple of breaks for the second and third goals that went in our favour, and those are the sort of breaks we haven’t been getting or capitalising on.
“On the second goal, it was a clever finish from Liam Sheppard after the goalkeeper got caught in no-man’s land, and although the penalty award for the third goal was maybe a bit harsh, by the letter of the law it is a penalty.
“You see those not given, and sometimes you just need those decisions to go for you, and it’s good that it went for us today.
“However, in the first half we probably had four or five clear chances, and only scored one and with games against the likes of Euxton Villa and Nelson coming up in the next couple of weeks, those are games where you are not going to get 10 chances in a game. When the chances come, you need to take them.
“Those missed chances haven’t cost us today, we have won and taken away three points, but it is something we will take away from this game and look to work on in training in the next couple of weeks.”
Although the afternoon ended well for Daisy, it was AFC Blackpool who took the early initiative, and after striker John-Jo Morris fired the first chance of the game over the bar, they took the lead in the sixth minute.
The Daisy defence were slow to react when a ball was played over the top, and Jacob Gregory took a good first touch before rounding Morgan Newns and rolling the ball into the empty net.
A minute later Daisy were nearly caught out again with another long ball, but although Luke Hepple took it round Newns, he ran the ball over the line before he was able to cut it back towards goal.
But Daisy gradually began to get a foothold back in the game, and after Sheppard set up Kaiden Barlow for a shot that just missed the target, they drew level on 26 minutes.
The architect was Daisy skipper O’Brien, who ran into space down the left before cutting the ball back into the path of Dodd, who curled a beautifully-struck shot into the top corner.
O’Brien’s foraging runs down the left began to cause AFC Blackpool problems, and after Sheppard set up a shooting chance for him that just missed the target, he was unlucky six minutes form half time when he let fly with a 25-yarder that beat home keeper Whittingham and rebounded off the post.
Daisy finished the half on the front foot, with Sheppard prominent in most of the potent attacks, and after being denied on a one-on-one with Whittingham, O’Brien set up him for a shot he volleyed just over.
AFC Blackpool started the second half well, and Daisy had a let off three minutes in when Morris found the back of the net but the goal was ruled out by the flag of the assistant referee.
On the hour mark, Newns made a great blocking save in a one-on-one with home danger man Hepple, but Daisy took the lead at the midway point of the second half with a fine piece of opportunism from Sheppard.
A long ball deep towards the home penalty area caught out the defence, and as the ball bounced high in the air on the edge of the penalty area, Sheppard nodded it high over the head of advancing goalkeeper Whittingham to put Daisy ahead.
Four minutes later, Daisy increased their lead from the penalty spot, when AFC Blackpool defender John Hay was unfortunate when the ball hit a bobble on the pitch and struck his outstretched hand, and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.
Daisy skipper O’Brien maintained his 100-per-cent success rate from the spot - a record stretching back more then two seasons - when he blasted the penalty high into the net, taking his goal tally to six for the campaign.
AFC Blackpool’s misery was complete when goalkeeper Whittingham was yellow carded and sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes for an exchange of views with the referee after the penalty, meaning defender Hay had to don the goalkeeper’s jersey and gloves.
However, he was barely tested aside of a Sheppard shot he pushed away down at the near post, with Daisy largely settling for seeing the remaining period of the game out safely.
