Team: 1. Mike Moore; 2. Pete Jones; 3. Martin Mayall; 4. Jake Jacobs; 5. Ryan Hewitt; 6. Danny Cheetham; 7. Mark Jackson; 8. Chris Moore; 9. Jeff Whittaker; 10. Keith Martin; 11. Wayne Broadbent; 12. Matt Taylor; 13. Lee Rainford; 14. Murray Hill.

"I should be on my way, I should be earning pay, I should be all the things that I'm not". ('Homebreakers'; The Style Council)

Apologies for being a week late with this report.  Apologies in particular, it seems, to one regular reader (Mr GM), who seems to think we never publish reports when we lose a match.  In fairness Mr GM, we've only lost twice this season (including this game) so we've not really had a chance to build up a track record of failing to report on our defeats.  Hopefully this report will restore Mr GMs faith in our sense of fair reporting.

Back to the match, and what a match it was.  This was the best possible advert for the Huddersfield League, played between 2 sides totally committed to winning this top of the table clash.  In the end Lepton ran out winners, but the result was in the balance until the very last seconds of this pulsating and breathless match, and both sides could present a plausible argument as to why they should have been worthy winners.

Both sides had suffered at the hands of the weather, so neither side came into the game in any sort of form.  Diggle started brightly and surged forward down their right hand side, with Whittaker giving an early sign of the torrid afternoon he was to give to the Lepton defence.

However, within 5 minutes of the game starting, Lepton found themselves 2 goals up. Goal number one was well worked down the  Lepton right, ball crossed in from deep, striker met the ball just inside the Diggle box and guided a good header past Diggle keeper Mike Moore into the bottom left of the Diggle goal.  Before Diggle could get their breath back, they found themselves 2 goals down.  If the first goal owed much to good forward play, the second goal owed more to defensive indecision and lack of communication between defender and keeper.  A long ball down the right side of the Diggle area caught Cheetham and Moore in indecisive mood - each appearing to leave the ball for the other to claim.  The Lepton striker had other ideas, and as the Diggle defence dithered, the slippery Lepton striker cleverly nipped in and hook the ball across goal and into the bottom right corner of the Diggle goal.

The signs for Diggle did not look good - 2 down, away from home at the current League champions.  However, Diggle showed that they have a real depth of character as they surged back into the game.  They showed no sign of concern about the 2 goal deficit, and they proceeded to play their way back into the game, maybe catching Lepton unaware who might have expected their visitors to take an awful lot longer to recover from the 2 early goals.

Chief tormentor of Lepton was Diggle's quicksilver and volcanic striker Jeff Whittaker.  Whittaker proved a constant thorn in the side of the Lepton defence, and the striker showed why he could and should be spending his Saturday afternoons at a higher level than this one.  Whittaker's close control, speed and tenacity created openings for Diggle and forced Lepton to sit ever deeper, setting up camp on their 18 yard line.

Diggle's persistence paid off on 30 minutes when another twist and turn from Whittaker allowed the striker to feed the ball to the equally hard working, and almost as impressive Wayne Broadbent on the edge of the Lepton box.  The midfielder controlled the ball in his stride and then rammed home a fierceshot over the Lepton keeper's head into the top, middle of the goal.

Buoyed by their goal Diggle continued to pour forward and their equalising goal came just before the half time whistle.  Again it was Whittaker who took possession of the ball on the right of the Lepton box.  Despite being pinned to the dead ball line, Whittaker somehow wriggled his way into the Lepton six yard box, before cutting the ball back into the feet of strike partner Chris Moore.  4 yards out, Moore wasted no time in diverting the ball into the Lepton goal.

Half time 2-2.

The second half was, literally, end to end as both sides slugged it out to find a winner.  Slugged it out isn't too bad a description to describe an increasingly aggressive match where the number of yellow cards continued to mount - all of them justifiable and given by a referee who did his very best to keep this match flowing.  Despite the aggression shown, what was remarkable was the restraint and the professionalism shown by the players of both sides, as they took in their stride what ever their opponents had to throw at them.

The game's eventual winning goal came on the hour mark - great goal from an attacking sense; the culmination of worryingly limp defending from a defensive perspective.

The goal owed much to great individual skill, close ball control, simple pass selection, and equally clever positioning by the eventual scorer of the goal.  The goal began on the Diggle right, and saw the Lepton player dance across the Diggle defence, before slipping a cute pass through to his unmarked teammate on the edge of the Diggle box.  The Lepton striker did not waste time in hammering the ball over Diggle keeper Moore.

The goal was disappointing from a defensive perspective as it reflected a nervousness in the Diggle defence in the second half  - too willing to watch the Lepton strikers dance around, and too timid in the tackle.  That might be harsh, given the quality of the forward play, but unless Diggle analyse their goals against column, we won't improve in future matches.

The final 30 minutes showed both sides at their best, both desperate to secure a valuable victory.  In that final 30 minutes both sides created enough chances to comfortably win the match - Lepton in particular could have added at least 2 more goals in the last 5 minutes as Diggle poured forward leaving gaping holes at the back.  Both sides had very good shouts for a penalty - the Lepton claim being the stronger, but credit to the Lepton striker who stayed on his feet instead of going down. [Not sure if the lad from Lepton is reading this, but when we said he deserved a penalty, he said that we wouldn't have said that had he 'gone down'.  Well, here it is in print.  We are football people, at Diggle; we know a penalty when we see one!]

Diggle threw everything at Lepton in search of an equaliser - all 3 subs were used; Diggle went 4-3-3; then 3-4-3; then 3-3-4 - you can't fault our efforts!  Amid a raft of Diggle pressure, the best goalscoring effort came from Wayne Broadbent whose 30 yard shot was tipped onto, and over, the bar by the Lepton keeper.

In the end, Diggle's wonderful efforts came to nothing as the referees whilstle blew for the last time to confirm Lepton's win.  The noise of the home side and their supporters was a clear sign of how hard they had had to work for this win, and also a sign of how much value they placed on beating Diggle.

This was a brilliant game of football: hard; fair; aggressive, disciplined; skilful; well referee'd etc etc.

Diggle had no complaints about the result, but plenty of disappointment at having put so much into the game and having returned empty handed.

The Diggle management lavished praise on their hard working, good footballing side; but were left to rue the 'might have beens' in this excellent encounter.

Diggle produced a level of effort and performance that, if they are able to repeat week after week, will leave them with win after win.

All players contributed to the performance, but Broadbent, Jackson and Martin excelled in midfield; whilst Whittaker (despite a frustrating last 10 minutes of the match - betraying a temper and character that needs to be channelled and harnessed) was a constant threat to Lepton.  Whittaker has pace, skill, trickery, unbelievable workrate and a desire to win that needs to begin to infect the rest of the Diggle squad.

Lepton deserved their win, even though the game could have gone either way. Lepton are a good outfit - well organised, disciplined, fit, patient in their approach, and with a couple of players who have the ball control and trickery that transcends the usual level of technical skill in this League. They seem a well positioned club with real football people looking after their affairs.

There is still a long way to go his season, and Diggle are certainly not done yet!  We will determine where the title goes this season.  No one should take us for granted.............