SUN
27 APRIL 08
FRY
CLUB COLTS 2
BROADWALK 2
Back to Frys on Pitch 2
for our penultimate league match this season against a team who were currently
second in the table.
A good start saw us take the game to Broadwalk asking questions of their defence.
Brad Monelle had an early chance to shoot on goal but
he saw his shot blocked and rebounded into Midfield where a Broadwalk
player charged through and somehow managed to get his shot away past Craig
Francis to put them undeservedly 1-0 up. We needed to keep the game tight as Broadwalk continued to push players forward when they had
the ball. Mo Bouaziz created a good chance to shoot
but his volley was just off target. However, with Broadwalk
playing down the slope they started to dominate possession and were creating
more and more opportunities. Only a mixture of good fortune and some cracking
shot stopping and handling by Craig Francis in goal prevented a rout. They did
score a second goal as a long kick down field eluded everyone except the Broadwalk forward who slotted home to put them 2-0 up. An incident occurred during the first half
which always opens debates on refereeing but I believe on this occasion he got it
wrong. Mo Bouaziz had the ball at his feet near our
touchline but the Broadwalk player decided the only way
he could tackle Mo was to launch himself 2 footed off the ground towards the
ball, which he won with his studs, but also partly caught Mo’s
legs. The ref waved play on deeming the fact that the ball had been won ‘fairly’
even though the player was off the ground with both feet and absolutely no
control of his body direction or movement. We can only be thankful he wasn’t 6
inches to the right as he would not have won the ball! Need I say any more.
We had to respond in the second half by creating
opportunities otherwise we would lose heavily. A free kick was awarded which Mo
took and his flighted cross to Charlie Frampton was
perfect but Charlie's shot went straight to the
keeper. A direct free kick by Brad Monelle also found
the target but again the keeper made a good save. By now we were really pegging Broadwalk back as James Hurrell
Smith in particular was proving too quick for the Broadwalk
forwards to pass. Up front Charlie Frampton was linking well with Lewis and
Brad and from a pass from Charlie to Brad his cross found Lewis Watt whose
header just went wide. Our luck was to change as Brad Monelle
drew a free kick near the touchline which Charlie Frampton took. His precise
cross found Scott
Gregory in the box and his shot this time beat the keeper to pull back a goal. As
the end of the game drew closer Broadwalk were
struggling to gain possession. The ball was stopped on the near touchline by Mo
Bouaziz and as all the Broadwalk
players claimed the ball went out, Mo carried on, cutting inside and unleashed
a superb unstoppable shot which swerved just inside the near post into the net to
gain us a 2-2 draw.
A great comeback against a very physical and quick
team and definitely a point gained.
Man of the Match was undoubtedly Craig Francis in goal,
whose first half performance in particular was crucial
to us having the chance to get something out of the game.
SQUAD:
Craig Francis, Danny McCarthy, Mo Bouaziz, Oli Randall(Capt), Kyle Curtis, Scott Gregory, Lewis Watt, Scott Palma, Ben
Keen, James Hurrell Smith, Charlie Frampton, Brad Monelle, Ryan Gibbs, Oli Murray,
Jordan Knight