EARLSWOOD Town extended their unbeaten spell with a hard earn two-goal victory over Smithswood Firs on Saturday afternoon.
It wasn’t as pretty as the scoreline may read though as Earlswood came under extreme pressure in the early stages as Smithswood forced a corner just two minutes into the game.
As the game settled, Earlswood started to press as Mark O’Donnell went close – though Smithswood also showed signs of promise as a long range effort glanced off the home side’s post.
Both sides continued to trade blows, though the half ended all square.
The deadlock was broken on 51 minutes as Earlswood forward Mark O’Donnell beat a defender to a header and placed it into the net.
Town keeper Daniel Rushe had to be on his toes to save a deflected effort from a corner after 58 minutes as Smithswood searched for an equaliser.
Despite more pressure being applied late into the second half, Earlswood sealed the game as Danny Holiday stepped up to fire an effort from a free kick into the corner to put Town 2-0 up with ten minutes left.
Both teams went close towards the end of the game but Earlswood took all three points to push them into a mid-table position in the Midland League Division Two.
Earlswood’s next fixture comes on Boxing Day when they face Knowle for a 2pm kick-off before games against Droitwich Spa (December 31) and Hampton (December 2).
