22 Feb 2014 - Malmesbury Youth (A)

The long awaited quarter-final League Cup tie finally got played at the 5th attempt & we travelled to Malmesbury knowing that we've never won a match their on a surface that is never suited to our passing football. The pitch was still very wet from all the rain but was playable & once again we had players missing as Tom was suspended & George was away on band duty for the weekend, so we once again only had 12 players at our disposal.

We started the game very well & Callum swung over a free kick & a cross in the first 5 minutes that eluded everyone on both occasions & went behind for a goal kick. Jamie had a good run in the 6th minute that was dealt with by the strong Malmesbury defence but it was a surprise when we lost the ball in the final third of the pitch after 9 minutes & Malmesbury broke quickly & a pass through to the forward, who was played onside & he put the ball passed Conor & into the bottom corner.

We though quickly won a corner & Callum's looping corner hit the top of the bar & went out for safety. The next 5 minutes was a bit of a battle as both teams struggled to find their footing on the wet surface before a flowing move was only stopped by a foul on Joe on the right edge of the penalty area.Up stepped Callum who beat the wall but was denied by a good save by the goalie who pushed it round the post for a corner. Callum swung over the corner & Charlie got a touch on it & although it was cleared by the defender it looked like it was over the line for an equaliser. The referee went over to consult with the Malmesbury club linesman although he was in a much better position to see it & to everyone's dismay the goal was dissallowed for handball.

We continued to take the game to Malmesbury & Joe, Lewis & Jamie all had half chances from inside the penalty area that either got caught up in their feet or were shot straight at the goalie. Another couple of corners also came to nothing as Malmesbury seemed to have players in the right area to head way for safety & the half ended with Callum shooting wide from outside the area.

The second half started with Ben making a good covering tackle form the lively forward who had been shackled well by Zak, Ed, Dan, Ben & Josh in the first half. We then started to get our bearings as Malmesbury seemed content to sit deep & try to hit us again on the break as they did for their opening goal. Charlie & Euan then both had shots with Charlie's drifting wide & Euan's going straight at the goalie. On 9 minutes a fantastic free-kick by Callum from out on the right fizzed across the 6 yard box eluding everyone.

As in the first half after 10 minutes Malmesbury broke out of defence & a fantastic save from Conor landed in front of a Malmesbury player who tapped in for 2-0. We really were making it hard work for ourselves though as the reluctance to make tackles all over the pitch was exactly the strength that Malmesbury have in abundance. Our main goal threat all morning was Callum & he got us back into the game with a 25 yard strike that flew into the top corner to give the goalie no chance. The goal though seemed to get Malmesbury going & in the next 5 minutes they had a long range free kick saved by Conor & both Ed & Josh had to be alert to make good tackles.

We had made the decision to move Dan up front & change the formation with 15 minutes to go but after 25 minutes a strong run from the right saw a Malmesbury player ride several half hearted tackles before being upended by Euan in the penalty area for a stonewall penalty. Up stepped the forward to strike the ball down the middle of the goal restore Malmesbury's 2 goal lead.

We told the boys at half time that if we were going to get beat we wanted them to take chances & whilst that left us open at the back the boys at least tried to get back into the game by making runs forward. Another Callum corner saw Jamie head narrowly wide before we got a lifeline on 32 minutes when after good work by Dan the ball found Callum & he struck the ball into the bottom corner from just inside the penalty area.

We then went all out for an equaliser & following another corner Ed had the ball at his feet 8 yards from goal but tried to pass when a shot might have been a better option & the ball was cleared. With everyone wondering just how long the referee was going to add on due to his insistance that all substitutions were made on the half way line during the game it took a great tackle from Josh to stop another Malmesbury break away. As time ticked on we didn't muster another chance as Malmesbury held firm with 2 banks of 4 & we were finally caught out as everyone waited for someone else to clear the ball & up popped the Malmesbury player to score from close range after 6 minutes of time added on. The referee shortly brought the match to an end & our Cup ambitions were over.

Player of the Match: Always a threat going forward as well as scoring 2 cracking goals today's award goes to Callum Bridges. Coaches Analysis: The first goal was always going to be important as Malmesbury are very good at playing with 2 banks of 4 & then getting the ball to their 2 lively forwards & scoring the first goal allows them to do that very well. We had lots of the ball & lots of half chances but apart from the dissallowed goal we can have no real complaints as Malmesbury took their chances when they came & worked hard as a team. We did miss the energy & options that Tom & George give us when they play.

Squad: Conor, Zak, Ed, Dan, Josh, Joe, Euan, Jamie(Capt), Callum, Lewis, Charlie & Ben.

Last modified on Monday 22nd June 2015 at 23:39