By Ian Pulfer
The league was put to one side this weekend and in came the Berks and Bucks Cup – the opponents though, were in our division; Forest FC.
There was the first fine(s) of the season this weekend too, with Manager Terry, Coach Hare, and full back Tiltman all turning up after the 9.30am deadline. They all had their excuse ready though. Dan didn’t want to drive dangerously to overtake a lorry (despite stopping to get a sausage sandwich en-route), Mike was trying to fit his ball bag in to the car and Tilts was sat at home waiting for Paine and Plant to pick him up.
Hobnob were down to the bare-bones after the departure of the Northern boys, Jimbo was playing Golf, Tom L'Heureux was injured and Joe Hare wasn’t signed on in time. This unfortunately meant Luke Walker had to start the game. The formation remained the same though, with Hare moving in to the centre of midfield alongside Miles and Bolton – Davies returned from International duty to take his place on the left, Walker on the right.
The game started fairly evenly with the ball being kept mainly in the midfield, neither team wanting to commit too many players forward in fear of being caught on the counter. The first chance of the game though fell to Hobnob, when the ball landed at Bolton’s feet on the edge of the area – his well hit shot, though, was straight at the keeper. Forest didn’t seem the threaten Chapman in the Hobnob goal, despite a few through balls that they nearly latched on to. With half time approaching the most clear cut chance of the game arrived, some nice play by Davies and Tiltman down the left saw the left back through one-on-one with the goalkeeper, everyone was ready to celebrate but Tilts somehow fluffed his attempt, fell over his own legs and the Forest shot stopper smothered the ball.
The second half was similar to the first, with neither side really threatening to score – a few half chances fell to both teams and probably the closest there was to a goal was when Hare found Pulfer with a beautifully weighted through ball, last season top-scorer, though, saw his low hit shot miss the far post by inches. Despite the lack of efforts on goal there were a few meaty challenges going in from both sides but the referee kept his cards in his pocket and every player seemed to get up and shake hands with their opponent.
The full time whilst blew, 0-0, but as this was a B&B Cup game it meant another 30 minutes were on the cards – with Reading due to kick off against Brighton at 1:15pm you could see the worry on some players faces who were due to attend the game.
The first period of extra time probably saw Hobnob on top and again had the best chance of the game. Pulfer found Davies down the left, the tricky winger jinxed past a couple of challenges and then cut his cross back to the on-rushing Miles – with the goal 10 yards in front of him, he was certain to break the deadlock but his shot was superbly blocked and the follow-up was dealt with by the Forest keeper. Again Chapman didn’t have much to do bar clear a few through balls up, or smother a couple of long distance efforts.
It was a similar story in the second period of extra time and was looking pretty likely only penalties were going to separate the two sides BUT with only 6 minutes remaining in extra time, some sloppy play down the right hand side from the home side allowed the Forest striker to race through on goal and he took his chance, slotted the ball into the far corner of the net and win the game. There was a chance for Hobnob to equalise in the dying minutes, when substitute Rob Walker saw his 20 yard effort superbly turned round the post by the keeper. The ref bought the game to a close and this year’s run in the B&B Cup came to an end although some will say the result could have gone either way.
As there is no game next weekend it gives everyone a chance to shake off any knocks they have and be fit for the visit of Loxwood on the 29th September. Its important everyone is ready and raring for this fixture as we all need to get as many points on the board as early as we can.
