BENEVOLENT CUP ROUND ONE
Baston strolled to victory in the first round of the Grantham League’s end of season cup.
Baston had to shuffle their line-up before the game with a couple of first team players running late. This meant a start up front for Ben Hudson, who didn’t take long to give Baston the lead, latching on to a great Ross O’Loughlin pass to fire past the keeper.
Baston were dominating and soon doubled their advantage, Andy Walker sending the ball down the left channel, the keeper came out to meet Ben Hudson but he squared for Sam Baines to fire into an empty net. Baston lost right back Stuey Couzens to injury which meant livewire Greg Rawlinson joined the Baston domination and he was soon running at the Caythorpe defence.
More than capable stand-in keeper Matt Medler’s distribution was excellent and was forced into just one save, as he tipped a long shot over the bar.
Baston had several chances to make it 3-0 before the break, with Hudson heading over from close range, O’Loughlin shooting straight at the keeper, and Simon Ward nearly breaking his Baston duck as he lobbed the keeper, only for the covering defender to head it away from underneath the crossbar. Baston were robbed on the stroke of half time as neither the referee or his assistant were close enough to see that Jon Howard’s shot crossed the line before being cleared by a defender.
Baston continued to pull all the strings and Jon Howard jinked through several tackles before being fouled by 3 players simultaneously just outside the box. Ross O’Loughlin ran up and hammered it into the net from 20 yards; the keeper didn’t move.
Baston still weren’t content with just 3 and Greg Rawlinson missed a glorious chance to score as Jon Howard’s curled cross from the right was fired over the bar.
The Caythorpe players were getting frustrated and their right back committed two nasty fouls (including dragging a player to the ground by his neck) and was rightly dismissed by the referee. During the commotion, the referee blew his whistle to re-start the game, and Tom Bedford duly obliged by shooting from 50 yards, and scoring. As the keeper was outside his box, the referee wrongly disallowed the goal.
Baston secured the victory with 20 minutes left as Ben Hudson laid the ball off for Andy Walker to smash the ball into the top left corner from just outside the box.
Both sides played out the last exchanges, with only one notable chance as Jon Howard’s rasping left foot drive was tipped wide of the post by the Caythorpe Keeper.
Man of the Match: Andy Walker
Baston: Medler, Couzens (Rawlinson), Bedford (c), Davies, Bull, Ward, Walker, O’Loughlin, Baines, Howard, Hudson (Clarke)
