First Half Action From Farlington
With a place in the 3rd round of the Hampshire Cup up for grabs and the local media watching the game Stronstad wanted to put a good performance but they were dealt a blow as early as the 2nd minute. A ball was floated into the Stronstad penalty area which was not cleared by the Stronstad defence which gifted the Titchfield time to place a low shot back across Ian Privett and into the net to give Titchfield of the Meon Valley league an early lead.
To their credit Stronstad almost got an equliser straight away. The ball was worked to James Clarke who advanced to the Titchfield penalty area but his low drive was well held by the Titchfield goalkeeper. The game was turning into an end to end affair with both teams looking dangerous. The best chance of the first half fell to James Clarke again as a corner from Gary Cowell was dummied by Mark Betteridge to the waiting James Clarke but his close range header was easily saved by the Titchfield goalkeeper.
As the game went on it was littered with silly mistakes from Stronstad and this was causing unnecessary pressure being applied to the back four with simple 5 yard passes missing their targets which meant that Titchfield continued to pressure Stronstad but when Stronstad did put their foot on the ball they created some good chances again. This time a nice move saw James Clarke get to the Titchfield bye-line before delivering a cross to the far post where Dan Moore came within inches of touching home at the far post.
Titchfield were starting to ask questions of Stronstad and with a pacy striker running Paul McKay and captain Gareth Spicer ragged it was Titchfield looking most likely to extend the lead. From a corner the ball was played to the far post where a Titchfield player headed the ball back towards goal but Rich Gillam was in the right place at the right time to head the ball away as it was about to nestle in the back of the net. At the other end Stronstad came within inches of drawing level. The ball was played to Dave George and from 35 yards he hit a stinging half volley towards goal that had the Titchfield goalkeeper scrambling across goal as the ball flew the wrong side of the post.
With time running out in the first half it became a stop start affair with some hefty looking tackles being put in by both teams as they looked to finish the first half on a high.
Half Time:- Stronstad Utd 0 Titchfield 1
A frustrated Stronstad went out for the second half looking to put their mistakes aside and straight from the off Stronstad looked to get back into the game but had to be aware of the Titchfield counter attack. The first real chance came after James Clarke was caught with a high foot and from the resulting free kick Dave George hit a trademark free kick that clipped the Titchfield wall and flew inches over. Amazingly the referee gave a goal kick instead of a corner to the frustration of a couple of Stronstad players. Stronstad then should have had a least a goal from two excellent opportunities. First the ball was worked down the Titchfield right and a whipped in ball across the penalty area made its way to Dan Moore but his effort was saved by the Titchfield goalkeeper then Mark Betteridge collected the ball before advancing towards goal but instead of taking a shot he passed to James Clarke who's control let him down but the chance was not gone as the ball rebounded to Mark Betteridge but his curling effort flew over.
As Stronstad looked favourites to pull a goal back they were hit by a sucker punch. Jon Way had the ball and advanced to the halfway line but was stopped by a Titchfield player who played a first time through ball to the pacy striker who out ran the Stronstad defence before slotting past Ian Privett to make the score 2-0 and the inquest into the goal started amongst the Stronstad team.
The goal prompted manager Andy “Stampy” Stamp to look at the subs bench for inspiration and he withdrew Dan Moore and put on Robert Pearson as he looked to get the ball up to the big striker.
Stronstad started to play harder football and showing plenty of drive and it was another substitute Luke Roystone who danced into the Titchfield box before forcing a corner. From the resulting corner the ball was played to the far post where Steve Beech headed the ball back from where it came from and after a goal mouth scramble Robert Pearson flicked the ball home and it was game on.
For the next 10 minutes it was all Stronstad as they put bodies in the box looking for the equaliser but again a stubborn Titchfield defence held firm and repelled Stronstad's attack. On one occasion the ball was played into the Titchfield box and as the ball bounced around some Stronstad players went down under some tackles and appealed for a penalty but the referee waved away the appeals. Goalkeeper Ian Privett came up for a corner but the danger was cleared and with only one player back the Titchfield player launched a counter attack but was halted with an excellent tackle from Luke Roystone but the referee deemed it as a foul. Captain Gareth Spicer was not happy and was booked for dissent.
From the resulting free kick Stronsatd cleared the danger but the referee called time on Stronstad's Hampshire Cup dream for another year.
Full Time:- Stronstad Utd 1 Titchfield 2
Summary:-
Not a great performance from Stronstad as they slipped to their 3rd defeat in a row. We only started playing hard when we were 2-0 down and there was a lot of finger pointing at individual mistakes but we need to brush our shoulders off and pick ourselves up for the next league game against Prince of Wales.
