Goals from Benito Lowe and Kyle Hawley sealed a much needed win for Avro in a 2-1 away victory over Vauxhall Motors to end a run of six league games without a win, writes Jamie Ross.
Avro started with intensity straight from the off as they looked to continue their positive run of results at The VanEupen Arena as they went on to record a fourth consecutive league victory at the ground.
Within the first five minutes, Avro had already registered a couple of shots on goal, with Lowe at the heart of the Avro attack. A clear sense of determination was shown from Lowe after his recent return from injury.
This was a continuing theme in the first 15 minutes of the game as Lowe continued to test Jack Atkinson in the Vauxhall Motors goal.
Kane Hickman was next up to test Atkinson as his shot from the edge of the box was comfortably saved before the rebound was fired over. Avro had done everything but score in the opening 20 minutes of the game.
After a positive first 20 minutes to the game for Avro, the next 15 minutes was played at a slower intensity. Both sides enjoyed a spell of possession in the middle of the park, but no clear chances were made from this. At this point, the game was there for the taking for both sides.
As it appeared the sides would head into the break level at 0-0, Lowe had other ideas. A corner from Max Harrop was met by Lowe who headed home to put Avro into a deserved lead.
This provided The Ro with something to hold onto for the second half. After the first half performance, there was every confidence this lead could be held.
After the break, Avro continued their attacking press and intensity as a miss-placed pass almost set te busy Lowe in on goal. However, he couldn’t quite bring the ball under control.
As the game struck the hour mark, Vauxhall Motors started to enjoy a spell of possession as they looked to work their way into the game. Kevin Ellison was played through on goal and his shot was saved by Grant Shenton just as the linesman raised his flag for offside.
Hickman pressed well in the middle of the park to win the ball back for Avro. He then played a ball through to Harrop who countered with pace, but his resulting shot sailed over the bar.
Over the course of the next 20 minutes, Vauxhall continued to apply pressure with a spell of possession. The Avro defence stayed strong to this pressure and limited Vauxhall to any clear chances.
To counter this pressure, Mike Norton and David Birch made two changes. This saw Jack Morrow and Hawley enter the field of play for Liam Ellis and Lowe.
This change paid off for The Ro as Hawley sealed the deal for The RO. He was played through on goal and calmy slotted the ball past Jack Atkinson in the Vauxhall net. Heading into extra time, the pressure was eased as Avro led 2-0.
There was a late twist as Ellison met a ball played into the box and slotted into the bottom corner past Shenton to half the deficit for the hosts. This was, however, too little too late as the referee blew his whistle for full time and Avro secured a much needed win and three points to bring back to The Vestacare.
The Ro are back in action on Tuesday night as they face Gilla FC in the Fenix Trophy at The Vestacare.
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