We had a good opening, creating a half chance for Craig Andrews whose shot was blocked. From the resulting clearance however, the ball found its way to the edge of our penalty area and our failure to clear the danger gave their striker the chance to shoot with the ball just rolling against the post and over the line. For the remainder of the first half though, we dominated the possession and had 3 very good chances to level the scores. Our Midfield quartet of Oli Randall, Mo Bouaziz, Kyle Curtis and Dean Lapham were causing their defence problems and giving us good opportunities from open play and corners. At the back, James Hurrell Smith and James Boulton were playing well to keep their forwards quiet. However, we just couldn’t find the opening and went into half time 1-0 down.

Early in the second half though our pressure paid off as good inter play from Brad Monelle to Kyle Curtis and then onto Craig Francis open up their defence and Craig coolly slotted home his left foot shot bring us right back into the game at 1-1. Bristol Central were a lot stronger in the second half but Craig Francis in goal was an equal match as he made 2 great saves. He was also tidying up well with strong kicking. We looked the more likely to net the winner though as we continued to dominate possession. However, 10 mins from time we encountered possibly the worst decision I have had in my time as youth team manager. The Bristol Central forward found himself running into our box with the ball in front of him. James Hurrell Smith came running back very quickly and won the race to slide tackle their forward and poke the ball out of play for a corner, also causing their forward to fall over him. The referee adjudged James to have tackled from behind and awarded Bristol Central a penalty. Unfortunately the referee was a Bristol Central representative and I am not afraid to say he was totally wrong with his decision. Even the Bristol Central manager admitted it was not a penalty. Despite his best effort to save the penalty, Craig Francis managed only to push the ball onto the post and in the net. You could sense the disbelief and disappointment amongst players who tried their hardest to recover the game. With so little time left it proved impossible and so our hopes of finishing as Division runners up ended with that dreadful decision.

With such a great team performance, it was a difficult result to accept as we had played much better than our hosts. But, we have to accept it and learn from this experience positively.

Our Man of the Match today was awarded to Craig Francis who really did have an outstanding game in goal.