The weather was more like a Sunday in August rather than the first weekend in October hot and sunny with the Pitch was dry and hard rather than muddy.
The match got off to a brilliant start with Hadcroft putting pressure on from the start, one miss match looked on the cards with Malt Shovel putting a big lad against MOM little Ian Whittaker at right back, apart from one moment early in the first half Ian had him in his pocket for the entire match. On 6 minutes Ian Whittaker was fouled in the Hadcroft half a quick kick from David Chambers sent the ball down the right with Captain Chris Smith chasing what seemed a lost cause but he got it swung the ball into the box hard and low and it was met at the far post by Julian Probyn who steered it past the defence into the back of the net 1 – 0. Hadcroft kept the pressure on and apart from the odd time keeper Scott Newman had little to do in this period. On 27 minutes an attack from Hadcroft was cleared by the Malt Shovel defence only for the ball to land at the feet of the hard working Julian Probyn who connected perfectly with the ball and it screamed into the top corner giving the Malt Shovels Keeper no chance 2 – 0. On one of their few attacks during the first half Malt Shovel Played the ball out to the right and a quick interchange saw their striker getting into the box and despite several shout from both the player and line for AJ to just stand the player up a clumsy tackle resulted in a penalty which Malt shovel converted 2 – 1. This is how it stayed till half time with neither team looking like scoring.
HALF TIME 2 – 1
The first 15 minutes of the second half was all Malt Shovel with wave after wave and apart for quick footwork by Keeper Scott Newman they could have equalised before they did however the inevitable goal came on 60 minutes with the defence pulled completely out of position Malt Shovel had 3 unmarked players on the back post when the cross came in and a simple goal was conceded 2 – 2. Damon Lewis was replaced on 69 minutes by Richard Parson who quickly switched with Tim Godber at left back putting Tim’s height up front as Hadcroft went in search of the winner. The resultant pressure from Hadcroft was starting to pay off and a free kick just inside the Malt Shovels half was delivered in with venom by David Chamber it was half cleared but centre half Daniel Shakespeare reacted quickly as the ball came in and drove into the penalty area and was bought down Chris Smith stepped up and converted the penalty on 78 minutes 3 – 2. Hadcroft Defender well for the remainder of the match and were relieved when the final whistle blew. This was not a brilliant performance from Hadcroft but they battled well and are now in the draw for the quarter final of the Dudley Guest Cup.
FULL TIME 3 – 2
Next match is only our 3rd league match of the season at Sledmere against Halesowen Members on Sunday 9th October KO 10.30
