Suffolk Sunday Trophy - Round 1 - 11/09/11
Brantham Athletic Vs Chantry Pheonix
Ten years after the terrorist atrocities that shook the New York and the world, Brantham Badgers embarked on their own piece of history, and played in their first Cup game since they were unceremoniously dumped out of the Cup final six months ago for fielding two ineligible players.
After an unsettled start, the game failed to set into any rhythm and the wind was dictating more of the play than any of the players on show. As the game unfolded, both the Badger’s wingers were becoming more influential, especially Craig Clarke who had white paint on his new, blue and yellow ‘van Persie’ boots and the continual beating of Chantry’s right back.
It was Chantry however who had the first chances, with the first trickling sluggishly across the Badger’s 6 yard area after the fifteenth minute. The second chance in as many minutes fell to the same player and was cleared off the line by either Lee Clarke after ricocheting against the bar.
As the game was petering timidly towards half time, Stiffy continued to make timely interceptions and his class and composure were evident when he played a defence splitting pass to Ross who was unfortunately on both the wrong side of Chantry’s backline and the referee. Some classic Cracknell comments followed and Ross was able to evade yet another yellow card for his budding collection.
As the half progressed, V-Man was keeping the ball ticking over and his blistered midfield compadre Chappell was wanting the ball and always seemed to find a pocket of space. Another player that found space was Ross who controlled a Craig free kick inside the box and screwed the shot well wide in acres of space.
Minutes before half time, Chantry had an innocuous opportunity and duly converted it, only for Guy to frantically wave his flag for offside. After the referee consulted Guy the referee agreed with his view and both sides went into the break with a share of the spoils.
After the re-start, Neve came on for V-Man and the Badger’s shuffled their pack with Craig tucking into the middle.
The first chance of the second half again fell to Chantry and Joff Hammond made enough of a nuisance of himself to deter the forward from pulling the trigger, but to the expense of his groin. Unable to run the niggling injury off, he was replaced by Gooch on the hour.
Not long after, Badgers were caught cold. Some poor defending and a dodgy offside trap culminated in a Chantry forward waltzing through and slotting home into the top right station of the goal frame. 0-1
A few minutes later, Badgers were still in a daze and Chantry doubled their lead. They weren’t doing the basics and a speculative 18 yard effort clipped in off the post. 0-2
The uninspiring display continued and the formation reverted to the 3-4-3 ‘nothing to lose’. The adjustment seemed to instantly pay dividends. A diagonal pass from Craig Clarke was played into space and was pounced upon by Gooch who slid the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal. 1-2
Badgers were now dominating the game and it was only a matter of minutes before the game was tied. Craig Clarke (again) found Ross Cracknell in space and he capitalised with a right footed drive 12 yards out. 2-2
Score after 90 minutes: 2 – 2
Extra time mainly consisted of heavy legs and bouts of cramp, with the Badgers forced to replace a fatigued Lee Clarke with new signing Joe Riley. Despite both team struggling for fitness, 5 minutes into the second half a long through from Gooch was flicked on by Bones into the Chantry for debutant Riley to smash the ball in off the bar from all of 1 yard out.
With many behind the ball for the Badgers, Chantry didn’t have the legs or initiative to force an equaliser and the match ended with a narrow win and progression into the next round.
FINAL SCORE: 3-2
