Report

This weekend we returned to action in the much anticipated County Cup semi final clash against local rivals Richmond Mavericks.  With the last few games cancelled due to bad weather it was important that we hit the ground running and got stuck in from the start.

Town dominated the early exchange and won every tackle but the game was constantly interrupted by the referee who insisted on awarding niggly fouls against Town, yet offered no protection to Liam Darville -  who was chopped down every time he touched the ball!   However, we overcame this and took the lead after 20 minutes when Stuart Murray bundled home from close range.   This should have allowed us to really take hold of the game but instead we disappointingly conceded within moments of the restart, albeit through a blatant handball which was missed by the referee and his assistants.

Town went on to create several more good opportunities but the Mavericks defence simply chopped down our forwards on the edge of the area and escaped punishment every time.  Despite this we still tested keeper Danny Dale on several occasions but found him in inspired form.  We should really have regained the lead when skipper Jason Newall firstly crashed his header against the bar before volleying the rebound back at the bar at the second time of asking!

Despite our dominance the half ended 1-1 and we set off in the same fashion in the second half.  The pivotal moment in the game came when Murray skipped round Danny Dale before being brought down just outside the area.  The big keeper was punished with a red card and all seemed to be going well for Town. 

Within moments a good interchange between the Darville brothers saw the skinnier brother hacked down for a blatant penalty, we stopped and waited expectantly for a decision which never came and this allowed Mavericks to clear the ball.  Newall picked up the ball on the half way line but his lackadaisical pass was intercepted by Emmo who proceeded to skin out entire defence before slotting in from a narrow angle to give the Mav’s a shock lead!

Town never really recovered from this and the Mav’s rallied together, parking the bus in front of their goal and riding everything we could throw at them.  Final score 2-1.

Simply not good enough, but we must regroup and recover from this disappointment ready for the next semi final against Cargo Fleet this weekend!

MoM: Sean Radford, but nobody played weel really!  
PMoM: Sean Radford - Kindly donated his winings to the fine box, top man!
DoD: Froghead Newall - Gave them the second goal and was nervous shadow of his usual self!