The 1st XI squad arrived arrived in Malvern on a crisp winters day to take on Old Brentwoods in the Arthur Dunn Cup 2nd Round on Saturday. The pitch was a little wet underfoot and somewhat patchy in places following the rugby term, but the stage was set for the OMs to cause a potential upset against their Premier Division opposition.
It was the home side that had the first sight of goal within 30 seconds, as a quick move down the right resulted in Max Kufner drilling the ball across the box, but it flashed passed Tom James with the wide man unable to make a connection. Old Brentwoods immediately realised they were not going to have things their own way. The ever increasing home support wouldn't have known this was an OM side shorn of up to eight squad players as they restricted the Essex team to the odd foray down the flanks, but nothing to really trouble Dan Madden in goal. He was protected by the tight defensive unit in front of him as Arthur Vaughan, Ed Ford, Josh Hughes and Jake Robbins reppelled each probing attack with commited tackles. Madden's opposite number was forced into the first meaningful save of the game on the half hour mark as Pete Ford and Alex Richardson combined to release Kufner, but the striker's powerful effort was parried to safety by the keeper. The young referee struggled to contain the outspoken away side, but he brought the half to a close with Malvern looking far from the underdogs one might have expected.
There was little the OMs needed to change for the second half as they looked to continue to frustrate their opponents. Early in the half, Pete Ford found himself in space behind the Brentwood defensive line which had stepped up looking for an offside flag. The keeper was quick to narrow the angle as Ford advanced towards goal toying with his options. Unfortunately support was in short supply after the Malvern players themselves hesitated on the offside decision and, as a result, James could only find the side netting from an acute angle following his late charge.
The middle of the half belonged to the away side as a series of corners punctuated a sustained spell of pressure. Jake Robbins picked up a hamstring injury and was replaced by James Bath at right back and Pete Ford made way for Dom Stanley having picked up a needless yellow card. But the OMs continued to defend stubbornly with Richardson and Leon Kirchhoff, despite his heavily strapped ankle, breaking up play, and Ed Ford epitomising the Captain Marvel role by battling on with shoulder tendon damage. This restricted Brentwoods to half chances but such is the ruthless nature of top flight teams, they only needed one chance. Once their top marksman exposed a rare break in the OM backline there was to be one result. He had time to pick his spot and direct the ball into the bottom corner and the celebrations that followed perhaps demonstrated their relief at finally having got on top of a game they might have expected to coast. As the game drew to a close, Malvern shifted to a more direct 4-3-3 which saw the lively Stanley pulling players out of position and Will Gifford begin to create openings. The latter was very unlucky when his goal bound effort struck Kufner and out for a goal kick. There was still time for Old Brentwoods to be reduced to ten men following a dangerous late lunge on Josh Hughes, but Malvern did not quite have enough to take the game to extra time and, with their place in the quarter finals secured, the only way was Essex for Old Brentwoods.
On reflection the game summed up the things which have held us back this season. We were without the Arthurian League's top scorer and some of our additional creative spark. This, combined with the inability to take our chances and, at the same time be punished by the opposition's knack of capitalising on their chance, meant that we fell just short at the time of asking. Nevertheless, this was an incredibly spirited performance and every single player in green and white could walk off the pitch with their head held high. Each should be very proud of their efforts - after all, it's not often you can match and contain a top Premier Division side like we did on Saturday. A big thank you to Syd Hill and those at the School for helping organise the game and to all those who came to support. Hopefully, the football on show and inclusion of a few bright young prospects demonstrates that the Club is moving in the right direction.
