Magpies recover from early setback to net three points

SSML Premier Division

Colney Heath 2 St Margaretsbury 1

COLNEY Heath bounced back from conceding a second minute goal to record a much needed victory over St Margaretsbury on Saturday.

The Magpies found themselves behind when Scott McGuinness beat Tom Blackman with a little over 60 seconds gone but were level just 13 minutes later when Jack Coombs rose highest to power home a header from Kevin Ashwood’s cross.

The home side grabbed what proved to be the winning goal with half an hour gone when Dave Corran lashed the ball home after St Margaretsbury had failed to clear his initial corner.

“It was a good advert for the league,” said Heath boss Scott Lacey afterwards.

“We didn’t need a lot of motivation for this game because they stopped our run which brought about our downturn.

“They were one of the best St Margaretsbury sides I’ve seen for years.

“There was a lot of background there with Kevin Ashwood, Paul Taylor and Steve Barker ex-players.”

Lacey admitted his side’s start to the game had been far from ideal but he was delighted with the way his side responded.

“We went 1-0 down inside two minutes so everything we’d planned went out of the window.

“But we worked hard, worked the ball out wide and Coombsy’s scored with a great header.

“Then we’ve attacked down the right and won a corner. The corner taker (Corran) has followed it in, there’s a bit of a melee the ball’s broken to him and he’s fired it in.”

The Magpies’ boss believes the results shows what his side is capable of when they’ve got a number of key players available.

“We’ve now got Glenn Draper and Stever Barker back and Jack Coombs and he makes a difference in midfield.

“We’re still without Josh (Humbert) and the two Coopers (Ian and Kevin) but we’re starting to get a bit of continuity in the side and the lads like a settled squad.

“We needed the three points on Saturday. Let’s make no bones about it, we’re not where we should be with the players we’ve got down at the club.

n Colney Heath’s Challenge Trophy tie at Broxbourne Borough on Tuesday night was postponed due to the fog much to the frustration of Lacey.

“It was frustrating,” admitted Lacey, “especially as it was called off at 4.50pm and the fog had cleared at 6.30pm.

He added: “It probably would have been a risk getting everyone to drive there and it getting called off but it was still frustrating.”