Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Game 10: Amesbury Town 2.3 Romsey Town (WESS LC) 11.09.07

Drove up to Amesbury to watch this cuptie and found myself for the second time this season unable to get a programme as the last one was sold about 5 minutes before I arrived.

Having seen both teams win games in the past month, expected this to be a close cup tie as Amesbury 'the underdogs' were well capable of scoring goals. It was Romsey who kicked off and almost scored in the first minute when a shot beat the keeper but hit the crossbar. Despite this early excitement, there was little else in the first 20 mins as both teams tried to win the midfield battle. The biggest cheer was probably when the assistant referee on the far side lost his footing and ended up falling on his backside. A minute later after this and the only cheers were from the Romsey supporters. Romsey won a direct free kick on the edge of the box and a great shot beat the keeper and this time ended up in the top right hand corner of his net. Romsey's no 9 was causing Amesbury problems as he had done with Bemerton and reminded me a bit of Ronaldo (in looks rather than skill) without the buckteeth.

Amesbury were starting to get more physical with the tackles to try and compete with Romsey and picked up a couple of yellow cards in quick succession. Romsey almost added a second when a cross from the left was spilled by the keeper - the Romsey striker had followed the ball in but ended up in front of the ball and couldn't get back to knock it in before the defence cleared it.

Amesbury then had a goal disallowed in controversial circumstances. Two of their players went after a through ball that split the Romsey defence wide open, one from an onside position and one from an offside position. The player who had been onside took the ball and scored after a 1 on 1 with the keeper but to his dismay, the assistant referee had flagged for offside then put his flag down when it became apparent that the offside player had not touched the ball or interfered with play. The referee had blown the whistle straightaway so play should have stopped before the goal was scored - although it was the wrong decision it would have meant that the keeper could have claimed to have heard the whistle and therefore not tried to save it.

Amesbury managed to equalise legitimately in the second half. On 60 mins the ball was flicked in from the right side and the striker hit the ball with a mid air volley that just beat the keeper's outstretched hand. The joy of the 'youth army' in the stand was shortlived. Five minutes later Romsey made it 2.1 with a carefully placed header past the keeper after the referee played the advantage when they could have had a penalty. The cross was headed to the back post and an unmarked Romsey player headed it in. It was a sloppy goal from Amesbury's point of view and all their hardwork to get back into the game in the second half was undone. While their 'youth army' tried to get some abusive songs going again, the assistant referee flagged their strikers offside several times.

On 70 mins Romsey seemed to have killed the tie off. A good cross came in from the right and while the Amesbury keeper managed to get a hand to it, he was only able to divert it to the far post where once again, Romsey had an unmarked player who was able to score with ease. Amesbury didn't give up and put a free kick just over the bar a couple of minutes later. In the 78th minute the best goal of the night - an Amesbury striker picked up a throughball and ran from the halfway line. Shrugging off two defenders he made his way to the edge of the penalty area and smashed an unstoppable shot past the keeper.

By now my choice of apparel (tshirt and zipped top) was looking like a poor choice as there were mist patches in the far corner near the river and the temperature had fallen considerably since kickoff. While I was enjoying the goals, I have to admit I was hoping that the match would be over at 90mins as a draw would mean extra time and perhaps penalties and I was freezing! This might be why my heart was in my mouth at the start of injury time when an Amesbury striker found himself though on goal with only the keeper to beat. Luckily for me, the goalkeeper managed to keep the ball out with his feet and the defence cleared it. There was another similar moment 2 minutes later when a good cross came in but the keeper again came to my rescue when he picked it off the head of the oncoming striker.

An entertaining cup tie and a mental note to take a jacket with me now the summer nights are drawing in.

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