Tuesday 30th October Coleshill Town v Brocton

Coleshill began full of confidence befitting their league status and recent heavy win, but Brocton were quick to close down and also to find space themselves. On just 3 minutes Dave Berks, giving himself a start in place of the injured Jon Wylde, hit a quick free kick into the path of the alert Andre Campbell, whose shot was smuggled out for a corner.

Campbell was the main early outlet as his pace took him past his marker regularly and he looked dangerous with early crosses.

It was from a Gary Fife corner on 14 minutes that Brocton took their lead when a perfectly placed ball at the far post was headed firmly down into the net by Richard Reeves. The home side pressed hard for an equaliser and they clearly were not too concerned at the slight setback at that point. Mike Shelper was called on to make a smart save in his box after a swift throw out from the home keeper was quickly knocked forward and good first touch and use of body prevented a defensive tackle before a shot could be fired off.

The resulting corner was latched on to by Richard Jones, who set Andre Campbell away on the right. He got beyond his marker once again and his cross could only be blocked for a corner. This time Dave Berks put in the corner and Steve Bennett picked up the attempted clearance and struck a powerful shot for the top left hand corner of the net. Andre Campbell looked to change the direction of the ball, but it flew straight into the net on 38 minutes.

Gary Fife almost finished the half on a real high as he tricked his way past his defender and into the box before pausing just too long and allowing his cross to be cut out.

Came out in the second half clearly determined to put things right, but it was Campbell once again who got beyond the defensive line with the Coleshill keeper reading the danger brilliantly and sprinting well out of his area to sweep away the danger.

The resulting throw into the box was allowed to bounce and Steve Bennett hooked in a shot just over the bar. Bennett was needed moments later in a defensive capacity as he put in a great saving tackle to stop a move through the heart of Brocton’s defence.

Coleshill piled on the pressure and it took all of Brocton’s defensive ingenuity to keep them at bay. A free kick just outside the box and centrally placed could have caused problems, but it sailed harmlessly over the bar. Then Brocton struck back again. A break into the left corner by Steve Bennett won a throw and Bennett got in a shot from the throw, which could only be parried. Dave Berks struck the rebound and it was blocked for a corner. The manager took the corner himself and once again cut out all of the defence to find Reeves powering in at the far post, giving the visitors a healthy 3—0 lead.

Once again Coleshill lifted their game and pressed hard, winning themselves a penalty as Kirk Lowe was adjudged to be at fault as his man went down just inside the box. This was Brocton’s night though and not to be outshone by the standard of his team mates’ performance, Mike Shelper flung himself to his right and held what was a well taken low hard penalty kick.

Andre Campbell gave way to Ben Harrison, Andy Harrison was replaced by Neil Rolston and finally Dave Berks left the field for James Dyke and it to the full credit of these lads that there was no appreciable drop in tempo or of ability. The visitors needed to hold on towards the end, but hold on they did.

Coleshill Town 0 v 3 Brocton