Irish storm to top

Mar 29 2008 by Hudd Student2, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

HEYWOOD Irish Centre thrashed title rivals Uppermill 5-1 to storm to the top of the League.

HEYWOOD Irish Centre thrashed title rivals Uppermill 5-1 to storm to the top of the League.

Hosts Heywood blew their title-chasing rivals away as Matthew Jaggar and Adam Bell both bagged a brace to ensure Irish went two points clear at the top with nine games remaining.

Heywood broke the deadlock on 15 minutes with a fine individual effort from Nicholas Jaggar. After some good play from Luke Gilman, Jaggar dribbled past two defenders before curling a shot into the bottom corner of the net.

Irish then stepped up a gear and dominated the remainder of the half but failed to create any clear-cut chances.

After the break, Matthew Jaggar netted two quick-fire goals to extinguish any hopes of an Uppermill fightback and repay manager Daz Wooler’s faith in selecting him.

His first was a near-post header from a Gilman corner and his second was a penalty after Bell had been brought down inside the area.

Bell got on the scoresheet himself soon after, coolly slotting the ball under the goalkeeper’s body having been put through by substitute Darren Henighan.

It was a similar move that created the fifth goal with a defence-splitting through ball by John Tarazi setting Bell up to notch his 25th goal of the season.

The visitors netted late on through substitute Christian Vencris but it was no more than a consolation as Uppermill surrendered the league leadership. Honley clawed themselves out of the Division II drop zone with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over fellow strugglers KKS Ashbrow.

The breakthrough came midway through the second period with McNamara slamming home a rebound after the visitors goalkeeper could only parry a low cross from Knutton.

The home side thought they had doubled their lead when a clearance rebounded off Martin into the net but the referee ruled it out for handball.

Bowker missed a golden opportunity to add a crucial second goal for Honley, firing over after Martin’s crisp volley rebounded straight into his path.

The Holme Valley outfit almost paid the ultimate price for those missed opportunities as Ashbrow rallied in the closing stages and struck the bar but Honley held out for a crucial three points.