Hopperational details
Date & Venue
Monday 22 August 2011 at Longwell Green Sports Club, Shellards Road
Result
Longwell Green Sports 3 (Dew 56, King 77,82)
Bristol Manor Farm 2 (Bryan 36, Thomas 90)
Competition
FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round
Hopping
This Monday night replay opens up the possibility of six FA Cup ties on consecutive days - four down, two to go!
This match in one sentence
Bristol Manor Farm played an attractive game and held a half-time lead that they could not protect against Longwell Green’s more direct approach - their second goal was a mere consolation.
So what?
Longwell Green go on to play either Merthyr Town or Bitton in the next round.
A random invention that would have the same impact on my personal happiness and well-being as watching this match
A daytime TV silencing kit. In fact, a daytime TV set exploding kit.
The drama unfolds
Here are a couple of scene-setter clips. Bristol Manor Farm are in yellow.
As can be seen, Bristol Manor Farm tried to play the ball on the ground from the back, and looked the better side for the first quarter. Balls “down the channel” were usually overhit or swallowed up by defenders, and the visiting captain showed early frustration when colleagues failed to act on instruction.
The best chance of the game so far fell to Longwell Green after 25 minutes. The keeper almost spilled a long shot, but recovered just in time to deny an onrushing forward. They missed a good headed chance a few minutes later. However, Manor Farm’s Scott Feltham was becoming influential in midfield with good runs and intelligent use of the ball. Although Longwell Green changed their tactics and started pressing higher up the pitch to force visiting defenders into playing long balls, Bristol Manor Farm took a deserved lead after 36 minutes. Feltham broke free on the right and crossed to create a simple chance for Luke Bryan, and the score remained the same until the break. 1-0 at half-time
Neutrals were allowed to be distracted by the sunset at the start of the second half.
The equaliser came from Simon Dew after 56 minutes, as shown in this clip. 1-1
The game settled into the same pattern as the first quarter, with Manor Farm playing neat approach football but the home side getting increasingly confident and effective. Liam Knight began to catch the eye in the home midfield. They had a big shout for a penalty but the well-placed ref decided that the defender had got the ball in the tackle. The next three clips are from this phase of the game with the scores level. The second in particular sums up the night for the orange-booted Kye Thomas of Bristol Manor Farm, although he was to have a last laugh of sorts later on.
Here is the clip from the decisive moment. Bristol Manor Farm built a patient attack. Kye Thomas ended up in an attacking position from right full-back but was forced infield and into congestion. The ball ended up with a pacy Longwell Green substitute on the right, and another sub, Matteo King was unchallenged in the right-back position on the break. My sympathies were with the visitors at this point. 2-1
However, any sympathy evaporated after 82 minutes when the ball was lost to King just outside the area and he smashed it home to settle the match. 3-1
Credit to Bristol Manor Farm who kept attacking and got a consolation goal from full-back Thomas via a deflection in stoppage time. Final score 3-2
Man-of-the-Match
For me, Scott Feltham of Bristol Manor Farm with honourable mentions for Liam Knight and the match-turning Longwell Green subs Matteo King and #15 (possibly Brad Norris but I am not 100% sure to be honest).
A snippet from the programme
From “The History of the FA Cup”, taken from the fa.com website:
“The first FA Cup competition in season 1871-2 had fifteen entries. This season more than 700 took part. Wanderers, a team formed by ex-public school and university players, won the first final 1-0 against Royal Engineers at Kennington Oval. A crowd of 2,000 attended the match and they each paid one shilling for the privilege. The first Cup Final goal was scored by Morton Betts, playing under the assumed name of ‘A H Chequer’. He was an old Harrovian who had once played for Harrow Chequers.”
I think we should allow a comeback for assumed names in the Premier League. Suggestions, anyone?
What I learned today
I need a new category in my hopping notes for “Grounds Where You Are Likely to see Hot Air Balloons in the Twilight”.
What Next?
I need to make a decision about where to go tonight! There are three accessible games and this calls for a Toblerone Box Decision. Other chocolate products are available, but none of them in prismatic boxes with an equilateral triangle cross-section. Here we go - watch the Twitter feed @GrahamYapp later on for goal announcements.
No comments:
Post a Comment