MATCH REPORT

League 9^TH September 2007

Venue: Boundary Social Club , Jordanthorpe Parkway, Sheffield

Teams:  FC Brimington vs Brinsworth Whitehill

Final Score 6 -0

Managers View

Preparation for today’s game was somewhat better than the previous weeks game against Fairbanks Rhodes  in the league cup. Today saw the return of captain Michael Gartlan from an ankle injury sustained in a friendly a few weeks ago against Mosborough Royal Oak. Mikey as he is known is one of our strikers and  was sorely missed for our opening game.  We also today signed florent fadiga who previously played under me at Kimberley town. Flo as he is aptly known is an experienced campaigner and has an abundance of tricks coupled with good movement and pace, ideal positions are anywhere in midfield. Nathan Gordon was also signed today to further strengthen the squad especially up front where he ply’s his trade. Like Flo he is extremely quick with the cunning of a fox around the box, Nathan complements our forward line and fits well into the team framework. As this was the first time Nathan has played under me I have not enough ammunition to supply on him but  I hope to be writing more about him in the coming weeks. Also today Lawrence Wragg returned to the team unscathed from his exploits the previous week when he went sky diving. Ben Thomas starts his first game today having taken the decision that the team needed him more than work. Kieran Maloney also returned to the squad after his short term break this week to further give more choice than last week. Still missing from the campaign so far this season  through injuries are :  Simon Newton, James Towers, Ben Leversidge. Injuries from last weeks game has added to the crisis with  Chris Connor, Thomas Simpson, Luke Read, joining the endless list.

We decided to play our favoured formation of 4  3  3

The starting line for todays match was as follows  

Simon Newton Linesman 

Matchday reporter  James Gebbie

Matchday photographer  Josh Thomas

The weather was excellent today not much wind and plenty of sunshine, we being at home meant the playing surface was of better quality the pitch was level compared to the ski slope we played on last week at concord park. We attracted more support today maybe the sun, or that we was at home today. Phil & Isabel the landlord and landlady of the Brickmakers Arms, Manor Road, Brimington Common, Chesterfield, the spiritual home of  FC Brimington and provider of  matchday refreshments,  they spread the word and more locals turned up to support us. Thankyou

On arrival to the ground we noticed that another team had claimed the top pitch which we have used all the way through pre season. This rankled some of our players as we thought the top pitch was the biggest by far and it was a junior team playing on there. We soon forgot about this and set up on pitch 3 which is slightly shorter but flatter. The game kick off at 11.06 am with FC Brimington commencing play we soon decided as discussed earlier that the tempo was going to be quick as we felt our pre season conditioning was of a higher level than most teams would have gone through .

We soon got into a great position after Mikey shot from an angle on the left that could have been deemed a cross but he denies that, the ball was deflected into their goal 1-0 up.  After 3 minutes our second attempt on goal was by the captain Michael gartlan again he met a cross from Kieran but the ball bounced too high and Mikey tried to get over the ball hitting it into the ground but goal bound the keeper saved. The game was at the sparring stage when two teams are trying to find each others weaknesses when Brinsworth won a throw-in 20 yds out from our goal and launched it into the box a shot followed from their striker who reacted to it first but the shot was wide of the mark. After 14 mins Andrew bath reacts quickest to a rebound clearance and hits a shot goal bound but with not enough power which their keeper comfortably saves. Brinsworth gets another chance after 17 mins when a ball through the middle caught us out and their striker hits the shot first time but connected poorly and was gathered by Andy Bridgewater our keeper. A minute later we travelled up the other end when Elliott and Kealey linkup with a one two Kealey lifts the ball over the head of the oncoming defender on the right and Elliott meets it but only for their keeper to claim off his head. Kealey puts the ball in the back of the net after 21 mins but was offside. On 22 mins Brinsworth makes another attempt on our goal after getting  onto a ball played over the top but the shot was poor and gathered easily by our keeper.

On 25 minutes Phil Hirons gets injured thwarting an attack and he gets a knock on his ankle which swells up immediately we decide that he could not continue and substituted him for Lawrence Wragg a midfield player into central midfield and Andrew Bath from center midfield  into Phils role as centre half. Mikey gets another chance after 26 mins after great possession play by FC Brimington but again he hits the ball into the ground and their keeper gathers. 30 minutes sees Ben Thomas push forward from defence and crosses the ball into the box poor touch from Elliott firstly but the ball drops kindly for Kieran who shoots but their keeper parry’s the  shot  it drops too Kealey who shoots wide. 34 mins Elliott gets put through on a 1v1 but goes for power and shoots wide. Brinsworth  realized that playing through us was difficult and started to play route one football this caused us a problem when a misunderstanding led to their striker going through 1v1 but he shot to the right of our oncoming keeper who pulls off a save some 14yds off his line this I feel was a turning point in the game as we dominated the game with all the clear cut chances but yet it was only 1-0. 40 mins we gather our composure after the earlier scare and Kieran intercepts a clearance from 28 yds out and strikes a fierce with the ball dipping seemingly under the crossbar but yet again it did not dip quickly enough and the score remains 1-0

45 mins half time. At half time I spoke about our reluctance to win the game early and kill off this team, Whilst it is 1-0 they will believe luck is on their side.

We kept things the same but decided that Mikey and Kealey would make way 15 minutes into the 2^nd half for the two newcomers. This seemed to inspire both players to affect change in this allotted time. After the resuming of the game  47 mins in Elliott gets another 1v1 only to hit past the post. 2 minutes later Kealey gets onto a pass from Elliott in the 18yd box  and strikes hitting the post and going in 2-0, “Relief“. 1 minute later after the game restarts Mikey gets onto a ball from Sean and strikes from 18yds out and scores 3-0. Another minute later after the restart Mikey volleys from 19 yds out after some great work by Matt Collier and Lawrence Wragg 4-0. On 61 mins we substituted Mikey and Kealey and brought on Nathan and Flo, Brinsworth try to mount an attack pumping the ball up field but great trickery by Andrew Bath safely guides the ball downfield to retain possession. On 69 minute we win a corner after great play by Nathan on the right. The ball is swung in by matt and is met by Flo at the far post who heads back into the 6yd box Bathy meets this ball with power and determination and scores with the ball hitting the underside of the bar and going in 5-0.

Elliotts luck was not in today in front of goal and again gets a chance on 79 mins he beats the defence and the keeper but his shot went past the post. On 81 minutes Andrew bath played the pass of the match from deep into our half he passes a 40 yd ball to Flo who was running in behind their defence, Flo takes the ball down expertly and gets in front of their defender on a 1v1 at an angle he shoots wide of the oncoming keeper but it skims the post and goes out of play. On 87 minutes Dave Simpson arguably scores the best goal of the game. He breaks up play 20 yrds in our own half and decides to run the ball out with the fight taken out of Brinsworth players  they seem to allow him to  run 50 yds with the ball beating 5 players and striking the ball from a mere 20yds out from the left side of the pitch it curled away from their  keeper scrambling back towards his goal and nestles into the top right hand corner of the net to make it 6-0.

It would not be boisterous to say that we are simply getting back to the standard of football we know we can play and that 12-0 would  have been a scoreline best describing our performance today. The whole team wanted to put behind us that performance last week as a well out of character performance we are aiming to improve on today and have a long way to go .

Andrew bath was given man of the match pipping Michael Gartlan  hatrick hero and Matt Collier who showed Gerrard esk class with his control of the center of midfield,  for a secured performance in two roles and the fact that he is joint top scorer this season with Michael Gartlan.

Special mention to Sean Gardner and Ben Thomas who made some tremendous challenges to thwart their attacks and Andrew Bridgewater who pulled of some tremendous saves when called upon to keep a clean sheet,  And Matt Collier who took the armband from Mikey and led.

Also thanks to Ben Leversidge, Simon Newton, James Towers, Luke Read although injured showed team spirit by turning up and supporting the team.

Cliff Thomas