At no point in this match was it possible to distinguish which was the side challenging for the Division One Championship and which was the side residing in Division Three. And it wasn’t until Ardington went down to 10 men, following an altercation between substitute Rob Joyce and a Lambourn off-pitch substitute, that the First Division side were able to turn the match around. And even then there was nothing to differentiate between the two sides in terms of performance.
Lambourn played with the breeze to their backs in the first half and created the first meaningful opening on 13 minutes when Frazer Joyce beat the Ardington offside trap, but blasted the ball over the corner of bar and post. Two minutes later Josh Cottrell should have put Ardington ahead, but this was the first of two or three occasions when he didn’t find his shooting boots. Wayne Hogan played a great ball out wide to Jonathan Eudell, who jinked past the defence to play the ball to the unmarked Cottrell at the far post, but he took too long to control the ball and his shot was blocked at source.
Andrew Burt in the Ardington goal then made two saves in two minutes, the first an easy collect from a tame shot by Sam Connors, and the second an outstanding dive and stretch to tip over a curling 20 yard shot from Liam Griffith, probably the best save anyone will see this season. Ardington then upped the pressure on Lambourn and with just over 10 minutes of the half remaining they took a deserved lead. Debutant Patrick Howe picked up a loose ball on the left hand side and pushed it through a gap between the full back and the centre back, then rode a lunging tackle from another defender before slotting the ball past the onrushing Dave Leno in the Lambourn goal to score.
Lambourn almost equalised within two minutes when Rocky Rowbottom gathered the ball on the edge of the ‘D’ and, whilst sliding, poked the ball towards the goal only to see it rebound harmlessly off the left hand post. Steve Joyce had a chance, too, before half time, but scuffed his shot wide after Tom Langfrey had headed the ball dangerously back to him across the face of goal
The second half continued in the same vein as the first with both sides equally matched, although there was not a lot in terms of goalmouth action for the first 30 minutes of the half. But then came the altercation and the sending off, which ultimately changed the dynamic of the game, although it wasn’t noticeable in terms of level of play and required a great goal by Lambourn with six minutes remaining to take the game into extra time. Ardington had failed to clear their lines from a Lambourn throw, resulting in Rowbottom collecting the ball 20 yards out. He pushed the ball to the right and fired a low powerful shot past the outstretched hand of Burt. The delight and relief on Lambourn players both on and off the pitch was clear to see.
Extra time saw very little in terms of scoring chances except for the one meaningful attack that settled the match in Lambourn’s favour. With two minutes of the first period remaining Rowbottom thumped a long ball forward to Sam Connors running down the right hand flank. Ardington defenders were slow to react as he cut inside and fired a powerful shot on the run past Burt to win the game, again instigating scenes of much joy from the Lambourn contingent. With little else of note occurring in the game Lambourn held on to progress gratefully to the semi finals.
No comments:
Post a Comment