Football
Earls slide further into trouble

Castle Vale JKS 5 Earlswood Town 2

Midland Combination Premier Division

EARLSWOOD fell further down the Premier Division table on Saturday when comfortably beaten by a Castle Vale side who started the day beneath them.

The defeat, Earls' 12th of the league campaign, leaves them 14th in the table, three places off the bottom, ahead of Saturday's home clash with leaders Bolehall Swifts (3pm).

Castle Vale went into the contest on the back of two heavy defeats but they were deserved winners on this occasion despite the visitors making the brighter start when Danny Deehan shot over after being put through by Junior Hewitt.

The hosts gradually settled and Mark Sheils was brought into action for the first time when saving an effort from long range.

Nathan Thompson opened the scoring for Castle Vale in the 18th minute when he fired home off the underside of the bar following a mix-up at the back but Earls responded in the best possible fashion.

Richard Prosser scored from a free kick to make it 1-1 two minutes later but the hosts had regained the lead by the break thanks to Thompson's second of the afternoon.

Leroy Williams extended the lead five minutes into the second half with a cross that went in off the far post, leaving Earls a mountain to climb.

They tried to get themselves back into the contest by launching a series of attacks but the hosts coped well with whatever they could throw at them.

Any hope of a comeback was killed off in the 75th minute when Alex Henry made it 4-1 before Django Farrell picked up a loose ball in the box five minutes later and fired a low shot into the net to reduce the gap to two once more.

Reece Hewitt almost made it 4-3 but his shot came back off the underside of the bar before the scoring was completed three minutes into injury time when an error at the back saw the ball deflected past Mark Sheils for an own goal.

THE Youth Team returned to action after a five week break with a 2-0 Midland Floodlit Youth League Southern Division victory at Cheltenham Town Youth.

Earls created plenty of chances in the first half but were unable to break the deadlock against a team they defeated 8-0 at home in the reverse fixture.

Kyle Turner's 12th goal of the season made it 1-0 ten minutes into the second half and he netted again with 19 minutes left following a sustained spell of pressure.

Earls, who sit third in the table, are back in action on January 26 when they visit Evesham United Youth.