League Cup First Round 2^nd September 2007

Venue : Concord Park, Shire Green Lane, Sheffield

Teams : Home : Fairbank Rhodes vs Away : FC Brimington

Final Score 1 - 3

Managers View

The squad was already depleted before today’s game but things soon took a turn for the  worse.   Injuries to key players had been mounting up over the last 2 weeks but the team was greeted with yet another injury crisis to James Towers who also plays on a Saturday

He sustained a bruised ankle which swelled up overnight preventing him from taking part in today’s game, with Michael Gartlan , Ben Leversidge, Simon Newton, already sidelined through injuries and Ben Thomas working , Kieran Maloney on holiday and Lawrence Wragg skydiving . The team was left with one substitute . But the unthinkable happened Michael Gartlan and Elliott Christie both strikers were travelling northbound on the M1 towards Sheffield when they was subjected to a breakdown when a tyre blown out whilst making their way to the game.

This misfortune left the team with 11 players to start the game two of which are goalkeepers.  Ben Leversidge furthered the team cause by setting off to meet the stranded team mates to get Elliott to the game whilst Michael who is injured waited for the AA .

As a squad we knew the team dynamics was  going to alter with no recognized striker on the field we shaped the team as follows to start the game

As you would expect the football was not fluent and not up to our usual standards we soon made hard work of the situation with a lack of communication and awareness sadly missing. The pitch is on a slant and smaller to what we are used to playing on, this proved an Achilles heel especially in the first half as our goal keeper was virtually kicking the ball to the opposition keeper at the other end. Losing the toss meant kicking downhill in the first half. There was not many chances created by either team in the first 25 minutes Elliott Christie arrived  after  25 minutes and acting captain matt collier swiftly substituted James Gebbie who did marvellous as a left winger but made way early so we could get a recognized striker on the field this led to  more purposeful attacks with which the first of our chances came on 28 minutes when we received a free kick for a foul on Chris Kealey at 25yards out from the opposition goal the kick was taken by Andrew Bath which  just skimmed past the leftside post. The next opportunity came on 31 minutes Elliott narrowly missed by hitting crossbar after Luke read delivered a long ball from the right wing which was met by Elliott with a great strike but unfortunately the ball would not come down quick enough for him.

Fairbank Rhodes best opportunity came on 38 mins when they entered the box and a strike was delivered from 4yds out but it went straight into Bridgewaters hands with great relief.

The second half proved more lively  from both teams fairbank Rhodes were now kicking downhill and tried to used this advantage to great effect but it was Elliott who had the first chance after the break on 49 mins having received a pass with pin point accuracy he split open their defence to go on a one v one but  his lack of control of the ball on the run towards goal allowed the keeper to thwart the goal scoring opportunity as he pushed the ball too far forward. Fairbanks immediately sends the ball down towards our goal and wins a corner on the 50^th minute the corner was taken quickly and delivered into our six yard box but Philip Hirons goes up and clears the ball away but goes down painfully with a knock to his groin. There  was looks of concern as we had no subs to come on and so whilst Phil was being treated we went down to ten men .

Phil returned to the action some 5 minutes later and all the team was happy to see him return even though the injury was causing him discomfort.

The first goal came on the hour as Chris Kealey intercepted a clearance by their goalkeeper on the left side and  crossed the ball to an oncoming Elliot on the far post Fairbanks keeper dashed towards the far post expecting Elliott to put the ball there but he squared the ball to Andrew bath who was coming in on the 18 yard line and he drilled home the ball with a powerful drive to make it 1-0. On the 74 minute Dave Simpson heads clear the ball off the goal line after a great strike from Fairbanks forward. On 75 minutes Elliott breaks down the right wing a delivers a ball to the far post to an on coming Kealey who scuffed his shot wide with the goal wide open. On 77 minutes Fairbank scores from 25yards out with a well driven ball kept low through a cluster of players. In 80^th minute dejavu Kealey misses an identical chance to the chance he had on 75 mins. Extra time looms at the end of 90 mins.

FC Brimington wins the toss and elects to kick uphill for the 1^st period of extra time

On the 93^rd minute Elliots puts the ball wide on another 1v1 this was the only clear chance of the first period by both teams.

In the second period of extra time we knew we was fitter as a team and with the slope advantage we increased the tempo and started to play in their half on 110 mins Kealey receives the ball from a clearance by there defence and drives it towards goal from 27yards their keeper spills the catch and Elliott is the quickest to react and takes it round their keeper who tried to recover the situation and scores to make it 2-1. the keeper who  hurt is shoulder earlier then came off immediately due to this injury and having made all their substitution went down to 10 men for the last 10 minutes of extra time. On 115 minutes still pushing for an equaliser Fairbanks threw caution to the wind and played a high defensive line, but a great through ball delivered by Philip Hirons from a free kick in our own half caught Fairbanks defence napping as they tried to step up and play offside, this proved disastrous for them as Andy Bath broke the offside trap from deep and ran past the oncoming fairbanks defence  and subsequently went on to place the ball to the makeshift keepers right hand side making it 3-1 with 5 minutes left .

Andrew Bath had another chance on 118 minuets to get his hatrick but he overplayed another great offside busting pass, this time he failed.

On the face of it we did enough to earn the victory but are aware it was not a vintage performance.

Cliff Thomas