Lyons pounces as Keys unlock Appleby

After a slow start to the campaign, Keys’ revival continued after Jordan Webb finished off a neat team move to open the scoring.

Dean Lyons, playing forward of his usual left-back role, found Aaron Taylor with a forty-yard crossfield ball. Taylor’s low shot was saved by Appleby’s keeper but Jordan Webb pounced on the rebound and put the visitors in front on four minutes.

Matthew Harrison should have doubled the lead but shot over the bar from close range before Appleby began to exert some pressure of their own.

Midway through the half the home team forced Crowle onto the back foot with a sustained period of attacks which bore fruit when Matty Marratt battled through Keys’ defence and around keeper Sam Thirkell before cracking a shot past two defenders on the goalline.

The teams were only level for nine minutes though – a low cross from Taylor was met by Lyons who found the bottom corner for his first goal of the season.

His second came five minutes from half-time and this was all his own work. Winning the ball on the edge of the penalty area and ploughing through two challenges, he netted Crowle’s third before watching on expectantly moments later as Taylor, unchallenged and inside the box inexplicably lifted his shot over the bar.

The second half continued at a fast pace with neither showing any desire to slow it down, but both goalkeepers had a fairly quiet spell, that was until Thirkwell was forced into a masterful reaction save to prevent a certain goal with little over twenty minutes left on the clock.

Two minutes from time, substitute Joe Taylor swung a corner from the left onto the head of Lyons whose glancing header deserved to bring up his hat-trick but bounced off the crossbar and eventually to the feet of Aaron Taylor. The two Taylors combined to score the last goal of the match – Joe sliding onto Aaron’s cross to score his first goal in thirty-three games and secure a welcome and deserved three points for Keys.

The recent resignation from the league of MS Priory means that Keys’ opening day 8-2 victory will be wiped from the records, which serves to make this performance all the more valuable.

Keys host fellow mid-table side Class 6 on Sunday morning.

n Ironstone FC continue their winning form with another fine win against Brigg Servicemen, to continue their perfect start to the campaign with five wins out of five so far in Division One.

Bottom of the table Brigg Servicemen made the game more of a contest than was expected given their contrasting form, but two goals from Ryan Ladlow and one from Simon Igoe was enough to give the title chasers three points, with a 3-2 win.

Ironstone are in County Sunday Cup third round action this weekend as they travel to Lincoln for their away clash with Rustons United.

The following weekend sees another away trip for Ironston, this time in the Dave Ward Cup, at Blyborough.