Flowers "delighted" by McCallum's scoring return - The Solihull Observer

Flowers "delighted" by McCallum's scoring return

Solihull Editorial 4th Nov, 2019   0

MOORS manager Tim Flowers lauded returning striker Paul McCallum after his 59th-minute header claimed an invaluable three points against Dagenham & Redbridge.

The win sends Solihull up to ninth in the National League, a point off the play-off places with a game in hand.

James Ball was also on target in the second minute, though his opener was cancelled out 18 minutes later by a well-taken header from the Daggers’ Reece Grant.

26-year-old McCallum scored his first goal since mid-August in his first start following a lengthy injury lay-off, leaving Flowers in no doubt of his importance to the team.




“Let’s be honest – we’ve missed him,” he said.

“He was playing really well early in the season, we went down to Woking and he picked up a groin issue, and we couldn’t get him on the pitch.


“We finally got to the root of it and he’s had some rest and recovery with the physio and medical department.

“We’ve managed to welcome him back in and you can’t believe how delighted I am to see him – he’s a top centre forward and a good player.”

Moors put themselves in a position for a comfortable afternoon when Ball planted a header past Elliot Justham into the bottom corner from Danny Wright’s floated cross.

But after failing to capitalise on their early advantage, the visitors were level when Grant met Alex McQueen’s free kick to the far post with a diving header that flew past Ryan Boot.

“I thought from there on in, we were camped in and we just couldn’t get that finishing touch,” Flowers admitted.

“The message at half time was not to get frustrated and to keep putting balls in behind.

“Ultimately, we thought the goal might come and obviously it did, we hit the bar, we had one chalked off – God only knows why.

“In the end I think it was a deserved victory.”

Moors responded positively to the set-back with a number of half-chances falling to McCallum.

First, the striker glanced Gavin Gunning’s looping cross narrowly wide of the post, before Callum Howe’s driven cross-shot narrowly evaded him on the stretch.

He made no mistake with a chance on the stroke of the hour mark though, heading Jake Beesley’s spectacular cross beyond Justham into the far corner.

Moors almost had a two-goal cushion when Alex Gudger crashed a header against the bar from a corner kick, though Joan Luque went within inches of rescuing a point for the Daggers when his first-time curler clipped Boot’s crossbar – the visitors’ only effort other than the levelling goal.

Flowers’ men are in action on Tuesday night with a trip to 13th-placed Hartlepool, prior to an FA Cup first round visit to National League South outfit Oxford City.

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