With the season starting to draw to an end, I decided to take the train up to Bradford-on-Avon for a Bank Holiday 3pm kick off as there were no new grounds within distance where I could double up an earlier kick off. After walking past a pub advertising “Bad Beer, No Food, No Atmosphere” I found the ground and paid £4 for admission and a programme. I then found a message from Paul to let me know he was in the area and would be joining me for the match.
There was a strong wind blowing across the ground so we decided to wander over to the far touchline so the wind and sun wouldn’t be in our faces. Bradford had the first opportunity in the 6th minute but it looked like the player had wasted the chance as the ball flew harmlessly over the crossbar. The referee decided otherwise and gave a penalty kick for what he saw as a foul as the shot was taken. The penalty was hit hard down the middle while the keeper dived to the right to put Bradford a goal up.
After the penalty, neither team offered much in terms of attacking opportunities and the wind wasn’t helping with high balls behaving erratically. Almondsbury were unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty in the 21st minute when one of their players was brought down in the area. On this occasion the assistant had already raised his flag for offside.
Bradford were generally dominating play and were unlucky not to go two up in the 28th minute. A blue shirted player won the ball in midfield, played a ball through the middle of the defence for a team mate to dribble in, make a dummy and then place a shot just wide of the post. The second goal eventually came in the 35th minute. Bradford won the ball on the right wing and from a great cross an unmarked player in the centre slotted the ball low under the keeper and in. The defender who should have been covering him had slipped over as both players ran into the area.
Both teams weren’t afraid to give the referee plenty of verbals for every decision and one of the Almondsbury players was eventually booked for his continually whining about every decision that didn’t go his teams way. Bradford saw another good breakaway go to waste in the 42nd minute when a player broke down the left, dribbled across the edge of the penalty area only to slice his shot well wide. Almondsbury were similarly wasteful with a great freekick position just outside the area wasted in injury time when the ball was just driven into the wall.
Words must have been said at halftime as the first few minutes of the half saw all the play and pressure coming from the visitors. Bradford dealt well with the pressure and managed a breakaway attack in the 54th minute. The keeper saved the initial shot from outside the area but was only able to push the ball to his right. It looked like the three covering defenders would easily clear the ball but they were indecisive and allowed a Bradford player to slide in and force the clearance into the net.
The game was as good as over once that goal had gone in but both teams still pushed for another goal. Almondsbury had a shot cleared off the line before their keeper tipped a Bradford freekick over the crossbar. Almondsbury put a good cross into the box in the 78th minute only to see it whizz by all three players in the box to go out for a throw in.
In the 90th minute, Almondsbury took the ball into the penalty area and the assistant spotted an infringement, which led to the referee awarding another penalty at the far end. Almondsbury made no mistake from the spot, sending the keeper the wrong way for a consolation goal.
No comments:
Post a Comment