THRILLS AND SPILLS IN SPELL BINDING AFTERNOON AT STOKE LANE!
What an incredible afternoon at Stoke Lane and before we get into all that, everyone at the club is praying and hoping that the injury to Millers goalkeeper Mark Rathbone is not as bad as it looked.
Mark left the field after only 9 minutes to warm applause and went onto hospital and the club awaits further news.
Substitute and new striker Niall Towle came off the bench and stepped between the sticks, but within 5 minutes, Halesowen were in front courtesy of a Bradley Birch header.
A wonder goal from new signing Alex Howes brought the Millers Level, but a Richard Gregory penalty before the interval put Halesowen back in the driving seat.
Arron Apoku on as a second half Substitute pulled the Millers level, but Gregory scored again in the next Halesowen attack.
It was left to Lawrence Gorman to score a contender for goal of the season with a wonderful strike after beating two men and curling in a wonder goal at the death to secure a deserved point for the Millers.
Gorman deservedly won the man of the match award and received his award from former Nottingham Forest star Ben Osborne who was one of the many vip’s at Stoke Lane.
Someone pointed out to Chairman Mick Garton that Ben was now a Sheffield United player, but Garton quickly responded to remind the gentleman of Ben’s great winning goal against Derby County for Forest not so long ago, the discussion was over !
Luke Fletcher was the club’s very special guest and gave an excellent interview to Millers Chairman Mick Garton in the Howard Mitchell Sportsbar prior to kick off.
Luke’s young children were Mascots for the day as well courtesy of Times Furniture and it was also great to see Nottinghamshire County Cricket star Samit Patel among the spectators.
A big thankyou from the club to Redrow Homes for sponsoring the game, to our Dorking branch for the Programme Sponsorship and to Men United for Matchball Sponsorship.
Perhaps the best way of reflecting on this game is to hear from two key figures at Stoke Lane, Joint manager Tommy Brookbanks and man of the match Lawrence Gorman.
Josh Hodgson caught up with Lawrence Gorman after his wonder goal and man of the match award presented by Ben Osborne and that interview is below.
Josh also had an extensive chat with Tommy Brookbanks after the 6 goal thriller and that interview is also on our twitter and you tube feeds.
.Finally, Carlton would like to pay tribute to the Halesowen supporters who were a credit to their club throughout the game. They were totally respectful during the Luke Fletcher interview and never stopped singing and encouraging their team and the fake crutches were a brilliant gesture in a banter war started by the Millers courtesy of Joe, well done everyone, a great afternoon of non league football and we are confident Ben Osborne and co thought the same !
