Les James Challenge Cup

Brocton go through 3 – 2 on penalties.

The only true winner in this game was the weather. Neither side could cope with a blustery wind which made accurate passing a rarity and judging headers difficult to say the least. As the ball spent most of it’s time in the air, this made possession hard to come by.

Up front for Brocton Richard Miller and Lee Scott worked extremely hard both in attack and defending deep when the ball was lost. They linked well minutes into the game and only good defending from the home side forced a corner as Miller tried to get a cross in from Scott’s neat flick on.

Richard Reeve’s long throws were as dangerous a part of Brocton’s attacking game as   anything and Miller produced a shot with his left foot on the turn after one such throw caused consternation in the home penalty area, but it went well over the bar.

Nearing half time Richard Jones headed clear at the back and Lee Scott collected, spun and was through the back line, being taken down as he got clear. Richard Reeves was on the end of the free kick, but could get no power on his shot.

Coton Green had breaks from the back as Brocton sent more bodies forward and almost at the stroke of half time a weak back pass from Matt Skinner to his keeper had Mike Shelper darting forward to turn the ball for a corner, which was cleared.

The second half had the home side with the wind at their backs and they produced more pressure on the Brocton goal with long kicks out from the back, but twice when in good positions in front of goal, the eventual shot was high and wide.

An injury meant that Charlie Woollatt had to give way to Richard Hewitt in the second half and soon Richard Miller and Ben Harrison came off for Dave Berks and Andy Chandler pushing Hewitt up front and leaving Berks and Chandler in midfield. Almost immediately Berks combined with Sam Bell on the right to give Bell the chance to get in one of his tempting low crosses. Lee Scott got in a shot, but it ricocheted wide.

Then it was Chandler and Berks who exchanged short passes on their way to the edge of Coton Green’s area, but the move was smothered before any serious threat came about.

Both sides looked heavy legged as the game went into extra time and the most frequent stoppages were for cramped legs. In the first of those periods, Hewitt produced an over head kick into the keeper’s grateful arms and then made a neat diagonal run across the keeper to get on to a Bell cross after a Chandler pass, but the keeper was down at his feet and a foul was awarded.

Coton Green had the final fifteen minutes with the wind advantage and pressed hard as Brocton had to fight to keep them at arms length, but in the end the stalemate was a just outcome.

Shelper made a spectacular low full length save to his right to keep out the first penalty and put Brocton in the driving seat and they kept that advantage until the weary Richard Hewitt hit his effort wide of the post. Shelper immediately made an equally good save to his left to get back that advantage and in the end the Badgers did not need their final                     penalty as the keeper beat away the last attempt.

Brocton’s chance to take top spot in the Midland Combination Premier this week was foiled by a re-emerging Cadbury side who have made a marked improvement over their last few games.

Cadbury started the most lively and took the game to Brocton from the start, and were   testing the resilience of the home side, in fact Cadbury’s Cordell Jones was yellow carded for a two footed tackle on Richard Jones who used his skill to avoid serious injury. From this stoppage and several others in the early stages Brocton started to get their own game together albeit their cautious  approach left Scott and Miller short of support at crucial times. Brocton varied the play and it was Fife who caused panic in the Cadbury defence with a well struck shot just deflected over the cross bar but could have easily have finished in the net. Adam Ainge had the ball in the net for Cadbury but was well offside. Cadbury however were defending the Brocton attacks in numbers and were always prepared to break out with purpose, and it was from one of Cadbury’s forward runs that Chris Jones centred the ball for his oncoming forwards but the ball travelled  over keeper Mike Shelper and in off the post just 6 minutes before the break.

Brocton did not have much opportunity to make amends in the first half but it was Gary Fife who set the Badgers on their way early after the restart releasing Lee Scott who slotted the ball past the advancing keeper.

Brocton went close on 65 minutes as Fife lobbed the keeper and with the ball goal bound, Cadbury’s Greg Ellard cleared off the line and gave them an amazing escape.

Cadbury took the lead for the second time with Ainge following up a save by Shelper from Cordell Jones which he could only parry away but into the path of the advancing forward.

Brocton were now throwing everything at Cadbury and changed their formation to get more fire power in the forward line with Richard Hewitt coming on for defender Andy Chandler.

The game was now hotting up to a grand finale and it was the industrious Fife who saved the day for Brocton with an 84^th minute drive into the corner of the Cadbury net.

The game was now on a knife edge  with both teams going for that all important goal and both teams had chances to take all the spoils before referee Glover bought this entertaining game to an end.

Brocton must reflect on a missed opportunity with their league position but Cadbury provided stiff opposition and a draw was a fair result.

Thank goodness that football is not played on paper, because if so this game should have been a walk over, but Pershore Town played their full part in an entertaining and high quality match, played in excellent spirit.

Understandably Brocton began full of confidence and only exceptional goal keeping play from Melvin Watson in Pershore’s net kept them at bay in a vibrant first 20 minutes. Mike Shelper’s long kick from hand was flicked on by Sam Bell first for Richard Miller to beat his marker and fire a low left foot shot just wide. Then twice in succession the otherwise excellent Ben Smith found himself cut out of the action by perfect passes inside his line for Sam Bell to glide into the box and put across tempting low crosses. The first of these Gary Fife hit across  Watson only to see him tip it round the post at full length and the second Fife hit on the full and over the bar.

Rob Winstanley set up the next chance from midfield, giving Bell the chance to score himself, but his shot, arrowing for the inside of the far post, once again brought the best from Watson as he turned it round at full stretch. The resulting corner brought a similar save, but the keeper suffered from his effort and moments later Richard Reeves got ahead of him and headed in a pinpoint Fife corner to put the Badgers ahead. That was just before the half hour and Brocton were soon on the attack again as a quick free kick put Fife free in the box, but once again a fine save kept him out.

The respite was short lived though as Richard Jones took a pass from Richard Reeves and quickly sent it on to the willing Scott. Scott found Richard Miller and this time his left foot shot, hit before the keeper could set himself, squirmed in, but that advantage was only held to half time because of a last ditch tackle from Andy Chandler as Pershore threatened to drive through the heart of Brocton’s defence.

The lesson was not learned though, as Pershore took advantage of some casual work in Brocton’s midfield to mount a swift attack of their own, in which Nathan Jones raced ahead on the right and struck a fine shot beyond Shelper.

Pershore then had a period of fifteen minutes or so when, buoyed by their goal, they were at least the equal of Brocton and that period brought the best from the Brocton defence, but the Brocton midfield in particular settled once more and the fresh legs and mind of Richard Hewitt, on for Miller, put him first to react to a delicate forward pass into the box from Fife and coolly lift it over the advancing keeper.

Reward for a fine display of forward play came for Lee Scott as a Richard Reeves throw caused havoc at the heart of the Pershore defence and Scott was on hand to poke the ball home. He was then replaced by Mick Fox and although there were no more goals, Fox and his forward partner Hewitt not only created more chances but also had the experience to keep the play very much in the Pershore half of the pitch.

A nail biting finish was no more than this pulsating game deserved as each time Brocton scored, Knowle struck back immediately.

A bright opening form the home side, with a strong wind marginally in their favour, saw Mat Skinner strike the bar with a powerful header as early as the 5th minute after a Lee Scott flicked header from a Richard Reeves throw. Skinner’s follow up header skimmed the top of the bar and flew to safety.

Skinner very nearly went one better when he met a Gary Fife free kick at the far post and turned the ball across an advancing keeper only to see it drift past the far post.

Sam Bell was harshly adjudged to have hand balled an attempted cross which he did everything in his power to avoid, but the dangerous resulting free kick, was smuggled away and Brocton broke quickly. Richard Miller raced on to the ball and popped it into Gary Fife’s path. Fife’s cross beat the far post and the onrushing Skinner.

Miller almost converted the very next opportunity with a diving header at the left hand post, which keeper Shaun Edwards did well to parry. The loose ball was gathered by the alert keeper before Miller could recover from his full length dive.

An injury to captain Matt Skinner meant a reshuffle at the heart of Brocton’s defence with Andy Chandler moving to left back, Rob Winstanley to centre back and Charlie Woollatt coming on in midfield.

It was a Sam Bell tackle and forward move from right back which set up Brocton’s first as he skipped past one tackle near the centre line before releasing a tempting pass to Lee Scott. Scott slipped the ball into Gary Fife’s path and he powered a fine shot wide of the keeper. That was on the stroke of normal time, but in injury time Knowle struck back with a goal mouth melee finished off by Mykey Pryce.

It took another twelve minutes in the second half for Brocton to get back that lead when this time it was Dean Crowley who finished off a messy goal mouth melee. But once again the resilient Knowle struck back inside a minute when a high ball bounced outside Brocton’s box and whilst it was half cleared, Karl King hit a perfect volley to beat Mike Shelper in Brocton’s goal.

Mick Fox came on to replace the hard working Richard Miller and was soon holding the ball and slipping it into the path of Lee Scott on the edge of Knowle’s penalty area. Scott’s fierce low drive beat Edwards to give Brocton the lead yet again.

Knowle threw everything at the home side for the remaining minutes but Brocton this time held on for a hard fought win, taking them into fourth spot in a fascinating league.