A last-gasp equaliser from Bay Olympic’s Joe Edwards ensured the spoils were shared in their 2-2 Northern Premier League draw with Metro at Olympic Park on July 5, although the visitors retained the Ken Wheeler Memorial Trophy as playing-through holders of the cup.
The trophy, first presented in honour of the former first-team manager of both Bay and Metro, was first contested earlier this season, when Metro downed Bay 2-0 at Albie Turner Field. And at half-time in this encounter, that score line was repeated.
Despite their injury-hit squad status, Bay had started brightly, with Metro goalkeeper Craig Wilkins thwarting Edwards on the edge of the penalty area in the third minute. The resulting throw-in saw Edwards whip in a cross which screamed across the bows of the incoming Elliott Dye and Lee Judd.
Four minutes later, a slick one-two between Jason Thompson and Jake Butler saw the left-sided defender buccaneer into Metro’s penalty area before letting fly with a low shot which Wilkins smothered next to the near post.
After a spell of play during which the visitors enjoyed possession aplenty in their opponents’ half, only to undo all their hard work on a cold day with final ball distribution of the inaccurate kind, Bay came back with a threatening raid just shy of the half-hour mark.
Awarded a free-kick some twenty-five yards out by referee Steve Fletcher - the official had something of a mixed bag of a game - Mark Elrick’s drive careered past the wall, but not past the posterior of Judd as it zoomed towards the target … the proverbial “bum shot”, if you will!!
Metro’s response was to open the scoring in the 31st minute. Nigel Curteis lobbed the ball through for Bradley Newall, a striker of seemingly giraffe-like proportions, given his gangly appearance. It had the desired effect on the opposing defenders, as he charged at them, arms and legs pumping like pistons as he gathered a head of steam.
After battling his way to the byline, Newall whipped in a cross to the near post which Curteis, who had continued his run, met with his head. The player-co-coach couldn’t believe his eyes as Jon Gwin somehow parried his effort, but fortune favoured the Metro men, the ball bouncing invitingly for him to bundle home the opener.
Stung, Bay attacked with fervour, Edwards going close with a header from an Elrick corner just two minutes later. The ball careered across the face of goal, Butler gathering it and crossing. Metro’s massed ranks cleared the ball, but only as far as Sakdy Phommahaxay, who let fly with a low shot which fizzed through the crowded penalty area and just past Wilkins’ right-hand post.
Further Bay pressure followed, six minutes before the interval. The visitors scrambled clear from an Elrick free-kick, then, following a corner from the former All White, blocked a Judd drive, the rebound of which was fired at Wilkins by Elrick.
The home team were to suffer a potentially fatal blow just before the half-time whistle, as Metro doubled their advantage. After a superbly flighted Richard Beeston free-kick had been punched off the head of Curteis by Gwin, a raking Wilkins clearance was flicked on by Rab McNeill for Newall.
The striker slipped the ball into the path of Barry Donnachie, the former Bay flyer now playing against his old club. Having seen how Beeston’s deceptive cross had tested Gwin; the winger delivered a similar angled effort across the danger zone.
It went past the incoming Newall and the advancing goalkeeper, and looked to be a lost cause, until McNeill appeared beyond the far post to claim a classic poacher’s goal by steering the ball home into an empty net from an ever-decreasing angle - 2-0.
The half-time interval came, and given the way the home team performed in the second half, Neil Woodhams - Bay’s acting coach in the absence, through work commitments, of Sean Hird - showed that, when he eventually hangs up his boots, he clearly has a future in a coaching role, putting to use the knowledge he has amassed from many years of success in the local game.
Bay were buzzing - it was immediately evident they had no intention of letting near-neighbours Metro do the ‘double’ on them in 2003, as they set about their task with a vengeance. How Dye failed to pull a goal back in the 49th minute can be explained by the cruel bounce of the ball - Judd’s lobbed ball in completely deceived Wilkins, but the striker was unable to turn the ball home.
Three minutes later, Wilkins produced a fine parried save to thwart Dye, this after the striker had raced inside off the left flank and played a slick one-two with Judd, who had a fine game stoking the boilers in Bay’s engine room.
Two minutes had elapsed when Gwin thwarted what was to be a rare Metro raid when grabbing the ball off the toes of the hard-working Noel Kilkenny - another to have swapped Bay’s green-and-white ensemble for Metro’s red-and-black look.
Cue further frenzied Bay attacking, culminating in a 58th minute corner which resulted in a stunning volley from Elrick somehow being thwarted by Wilkins - the save matched the shot!
Seconds later, however, ‘Elf’ produced a master-stroke, a splendidly
Weighted cross to the far post finding Phommahaxay powering through the crowd to head home from point-blank range - 2-1, game on big-time!
Bay continued to press for an equaliser. Wilkins blocked with his legs from Butler, after he had rounded a defender upon being slipped through by Edwards in the 65th minute. Nine minutes later, Dye hit a post after another surging run inside from the left flank. But the goal would not come.
Elrick sent a free-kick crashing into the defensive wall three minutes from time, following which a corner was awarded. Before it could be taken, though, McNeill was summoned by Mr Fletcher and received a yellow card … followed by a red one, this being his second summons of the day.
Metro’s player-co-coach was fraught, another victim of the eternal argument evolving around “the letter of the law versus the spirit of the game”. While most referees tend to be a little lenient in their officiating, today’s whistle-blower is a staunch advocate of the former policy, and employs it consistently - and isn’t that what players seek most of all?
So when a player commits a cautionable offence such as kick the ball away, which Metro’s Peter Hendriks stupidly and needlessly did in the first half, while some officials might let it pass with a quiet word, when Mr Fletcher’s around, you know what’s coming - yellow card, no messing!
What irks this writer, however, is that despite Mr Fletcher’s reputation preceding him, so many players persist in testing how far they can go before discovering the hard way when they’ve overstepped the mark.
It’s not a case of “The Steve Fletcher Show”, as one wag in the crowd referred to the referee’s frequent involvement in this match - instead, it’s a case of players who should know better committing offences which, when this official is around, they will, quite rightly, be taken to task for.
McNeill’s absence meant Metro had to hold out for the remaining minute’s one shy of their full compliment. They survived the aforementioned corner, then another opportunity when Judd picked out Butler in the penalty area with a sumptuous pass.
The midfielder controlled and shot in the one movement, only to put his hands to his head as the ball ricocheted off the unknowing figure of Wilkins - the ‘keeper had flung himself in the general direction where he expected the ball to head, and found fortune favouring him.
It was not to last, however, for, with virtually the last kick of the game, another frantic Bay raid culminated in Edwards squeezing a shot past the advancing Wilkins from just inside the penalty area. The ball trickled goal wards and crept over the line, despite three Metro defenders converging on the ball, but seemingly unable to get within striking distance of it, for fear of their clearance cannoning off a colleague into the net.
That’s where the ball ended up anyway, much to Bay’s relief. But the 2-2 draw meant another chance squandered by the home team in the Northern Premier League championship race, while the late equaliser cost Metro two vital points as they attempt to stave off relegation, although they have some solace for their efforts, in the form of retaining the Ken Wheeler Memorial Trophy for the 2003 season.

Bay: Gwin; Dixon, Phommahaxay, Kennedy, Thompson; Edwards, Mulrooney, Judd, Butler; Elrick, Dye (Mullins, 87)

Metro: Wilkins (booked, 68); Beeston, Gray, Clark; Singh (Kublicki, 61), Curteis, Hendriks (booked, 38) (Dundas, 51), Kilkenny, Donnachie (booked, 77); Newall (Rhodes, 87), McNeill (booked, 62 & 88 - sent-off)

Referee: Steve Fletcher

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