Met up with Andy and Ferg at Andy's house for a short stroll round to watch Bemerton take on Fareham. We were a bit concerned on arrival to see that the floodlights on the main pitch weren't on but the turnstiles were open so we made our way into the atmospherically lit ground. As kickoff approached, the main floodlights were turned on and the players came through the back of the ground from the practice pitches to the dressing room.
Both teams were in the top half of the table and honours were pretty even for the first 20 minutes. Fareham took the lead with a breakaway on the right side after 26 minutes. As the ball broke to a Fareham player on the right of the penalty area it looked as if his first touch was too strong and the keeper looked favourite to gather it as he rushed out. Somehow the Fareham player managed to toepoke it past him and across the goal where Guise tapped it into the unprotected net.
Bemerton made a number of chances after that but couldn't finish. In the second half, a superb freekick bent around the wall but crashed against the post and out. A breakaway attack saw the keeper beaten again with a shot from the left hand side of the area, only for the ball to whistle past the wrong side of the post. Fareham also made some chances and it looked as if they were going to be granted a penalty for a bearhug, only for the officials to decide that the original offence was just outside the box. The player who took the kick made his point by putting the ball just inside the line!
The referee had another gaff earlier in the game when he decided to approach his assistant for advice on whether it was a throw in or goalkick on the farside. The assistant correctly determined that he should give Bemerton a throw but the ref didn't understand and gave it to Fareham instead (his original decision was to give them the goalkick).
The drama continued into injury time when Bemerton were awarded a penalty for a late tackle in the box. The shot was well struck along the ground towards the left corner of the goal but the keeper was equal to it and stretched out to push it. Perhaps this evened up the Bemerton keeper's blinder of a save from a point blank header earlier in the half but the disappointment of the locals around us (compared to the yells of joy from the noisy Fareham contingent!) was plain to see.
No comments:
Post a Comment