A GOAL in each half proved to be the difference for the Young Brewers as they returned to winning ways with a 2-0 win over Lincoln City at St George’s Park.
Yewo Nyirenda broke the deadlock just before the break by poking through the goalkeeper’s legs from close range and his strike partner Emmanuel Shittu added a second by lashing a shot into the bottom corner to double the advantage.
The hosts started the stronger and had the first real chance when, after an exchange down the right flank, Shittu turned, spinning into the area before unselfishly squaring to Nyirenda but he could only pull his effort wide.
On the other flank, Jack Holmes was a constant danger throughout the half and was unfortunate that, having been played through by Tyo Carter, his shot beat the goalkeeper but also beat the far post and went wide.
With the last action of the first half the Young Brewers made a deserved breakthrough following a well worked move on the right.
Tom Hewlett drifted inside from the touchline and found Carter who drove towards the box before cutting the ball through to Nyirenda for the forward to tuck the ball low past the goalkeeper.
Into the second half the Young Brewers picked up right where they left off in the first as Carter and Hewlett combined to almost catch Lincoln cold with a well worked free kick, but the latter’s shot flashed just wide.
Hewlett would turn provider just after the hour mark when he found Shittu with space in the area and the forward took one touch to set before firing an effort again through the goalkeeper into the far corner.
Speaking after the match, Shittu was understandably pleased with his clincher. “It was a nice simple goal. I was a bit lucky because it went through the 'keeper’s legs, but I was happy with my finish.”
As the clock ran down the Young Brewers weathered the Lincoln pressure and managed the closing stages well without being overly stretched or calling goalkeeper Teddy Sharman-Lowe into too much action.
While not being called upon too frequently, goalkeeper Sharman-Lowe was nonetheless happy with the team’s clean sheet.
“With the quality of the defenders we’ve got at the back we have the ability not to concede, but the last few games our heads have just dropped. So this is a confidence booster for the whole team.”
The way in which they did see the game out to secure that clean sheet particularly pleased Professional Development Phase Coach Sam Rose.
“I think we managed the game really well which is something we haven't done particularly in the past and is something that we've worked on over the last week or so.”
“The lads are pleased, we're pleased, it's good when football goes like this everyone's buzzing and our challenge now is to maintain a bit of consistency in the performances, be really hard to beat and improve what we're doing with the ball.”