Noticed in the Salisbury Journal that the Shrewton game I had attempted to see last month had been rescheduled for a Sunday so decided to head up to the ground and see if the game would run the full course this time.
Left Salisbury in warm, overcast conditions but as I passed Stonehenge it started to rain. Typical - no rain for weeks and I wasn't wearing a jacket. When I arrived at the ground, most of the spectators were sheltering under the main stand. After listening to the radio in the dry, I wandered over to the entrance to pay / get a programme. Turned out it was the old programme I had received at the last game and on hearing that I'd been at that game, the gatekeeper told me not to worry about paying. A nice touch so I made sure I bought some raffle tickets later (only 2 strips off the winning number!).
When the game kicked off, I overheard a conversation about the orginal referee - apparently he had wanted to referee this game but Shrewton had unsurprisingly asked for another match official to be appointed. They had played an away fixture the day before and there were a few new faces in the starting line up. The rain was light so I made my way to the barrier above (about 4 feet) the near goal to watch the game.
Shrewton started well and on 3 minutes they went a goal up when a cross came in from the left. The first Shrewton player it reached played a good dummy and let the ball continue to run across the face of the goal. One of his team mates then ran in and blasted the ball past the keeper.
It seemed a bit of an injustice after the previous game but, as before, Sherborne started to dominate play. There were few goalscoring opportunites early on, the best of which fell to Shrewton's no 4, playing as a striker, when he managed to skip past the Sherborne defence but shot just wide. Sherborne exploited space on each flank, spreading the ball quickly to the opposite side but their final control in the box let them down on a number of occasions.
There was a small flare up on the 39th minute when a Shrewton player was injured in the box and the referee allowed play to go on. Sherborne had a couple of attempts on goal before a Shrewton player was able to kick the ball out and let him get some treatment. An angry discussion continued while the injured player was treated because Sherborne were lining up to take an attacking throw in. Just before the throw in, at the instruction of one of the senior players, the decision was made to defuse the situation and return the ball to Shrewton.
Just before half time, Sherborne scored an equaliser. Shrewton were unable to clear the ball from their box and a second shot on target flew into the back of the net. Two minutes later, in injury time, they took the lead as one of their strikers was sent through and managed to get his shot away before the defence caught up. The keeper couldn't get his hand to it and it crept into the far corner of the net.
The first 20 minutes of the second half were similar to the first half - long periods of Sherborne pressure but little goalmouth action. The Sherborne physio ingratiated himself with the locals when he wandered by, describing one as a witch. The first real chance came to Shrewton on 60 minutes when a shot from the edge of the box was only stopped by the keeper managing to sit on the ball. Five minutes later and it was Sherborne's chance to score when Shrewton gave the ball away on the left wing. The scorer of the second goal cut in with the ball and shot, only for Shrewton's keeper to push it wide with a fingertip save.
On 70 minutes,unsurprisingly Sherborne extended their lead. A cross came in from the left and was met with a firm shot into an empty net - the keeper couldn't get near it. 13 minutes later and it was 4.1 - the ball came in from a corner and it looked as if Shewton had cleared the ball. However the ball came back in to the box and from a potentially offside position, a Sherborne player managed to keep the ball in with an overhead kick. The ball flew across to the other side of the six yard box and allowed one of his team mates to tap it into the net.
Sherborne added a deserved fifth goal two minutes later. A freekick was floated into the box and was headed in from the edge of the 6 yard box.
It was good to see that after the trouble at the first game, the referee didn't have to book anyone this time round.
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