Grange Athletic 2 v 1 TS UNITS FC
The UNITS took on champions elect Grange with the game being moved to Alveley's pitch due to Grange's surface being deemed unplayable Saturday night we had 10 players and some frantic phone calls, a couple of lads stepping up and a couple of emergency signings meant we mustered 13 but with a host of first teamers missing We lined up Mozza, Chinner, Gilo, Tonka, Leon, Si, Coco, Ashton, Pountney, Trigger & Az Westwood Subs were Luke & Rob Bell
After last weeks excellent win v Wall Heath the message to the lads was to enjoy today, be as competitive as possible and with so many square pegs in round holes from the off try and stay in the game early on
Grange started well like the team in form that they are, after 2 minutes Pap was played in behind a static UNITS back four and lobbed past Mozzza and wide of the post when he should have scored.
Minutes after Grange had a massive call for a penalty against Leon for hand ball yet the referee waved played on and you had certainly seen them given as the UNITS got away with one
10 in and we were on the back foot but we slowly started to get our shape and be more competitive, what was encouraging was Mozza was remaining untested as we defended well and Grange struggled to create clear chances
Trigger almost got away from their last man from a good Pountney pass but the defender recovered well and got the ball back to the keeper
Parker up top for Grange was lively and playing on the shoulder, he found a yard of space in the box on 20 minutes and side footed inches wide as the UNITS held on at 0-0
As the half wore on we started to get more into the game, we forced a couple of corners in quick succession and Ashton shot over from 20 yards as we started to ask a few questions of our own
We then had a great chance on 25 minutes when Leon did superbly well to dispossess the Grange defender who was dallying on the ball following a UNITS corner, with Ashton running on to the ball and only 6 yards out a grounded Leon scooped the ball goalwards and into the keepers hands not knowing Ashton was in a great position to put us ahead
However on 30 minutes we did take the lead with a fine team goal. Gilo did well to get the ball to Aaron who showed good feet to beat two men before playing a ball down the line to Trigger, Trigger held up the ball before laying the ball back to Ashton who hit a first time cross field 30 yard ball to the on-rushing Lewis who side foot volleyed past the Grange keeper to give the UNITS a crucial lead
The pitch was bobbly and the wind not helping things for either team, Grange now behind piled men forward yet the pace up top was the key for them, they shot over from the edge of the box and Mozza tipped over from a header from a corner as we stuck to our task well
35 minutes in and Cuzer had just shuffled the UNITS shape to give us more cover at the back and you felt comfortable as Grange often found themselves shooting from distance but then everything changed as the UNITS had a man sent off
Their centre half who had already had one altercation with Trigger for no reason did the same again with Aaron, a little kick off the ball and the pair of them squared up and it carried on for a while before Aaron pushed him away but raised his hands. Disappointingly the Grange players and management got right into the referee demanding Az had to be sent off and after speaking to a few players after the resulting melee the referee did indeed reduce the UNITS to 10 men as Aaron was sent off on debut. The biggest mis-justice for us was the first incident the ref failed to spot resulting in the reaction but the Grange lad was cute and once you raise your hands the ref has a call to make so we found ourselves down to 10 men after being well placed at 1-0 up and containing Grange well
We kept the shuffled shape and continued to defend well for the rest of the first half as we soaked up Grange pressure but Mozza remained untested for the remainder of the half as we came in 1-0 up but down to 10 men
HT Grange 0 v 1 TS UNITS
All the management couldn't fault the lads effort or application enough but we knew the 2nd half would be a tough ask, we kept the same 10 and shape as the message was to try and frustrate Grange as long as we could and hopefully create on the break
Grange made a couple of changes and chucked extra bodies forward but credit to all the UNITS who were working hard and the discipline was excellent
Grange kept coming straight from the off but there first real threat of note came on 55 minutes when a well struck 25 yarder which dipped viciously at the last minute cannoned off the crossbar with Mozza beaten
It was all grange but the defence were fantastic, so many shots blocked and crosses cleared Grange never got in behind us once and most their chances came from long range which we dealt with
Just after the hour the pressure finally paid off when a cruel deflection got Grange back on level terms, their striker held off Leon 20 yards from goal and when he turned and shot Leon got a block on the shot but the ball took a deflection and wrong footed Mozza who couldn't readjust his hands as the ball flew over him and into the net
It would have been easy to crumble now as it was one way traffic, Lewis, Ashton and Trigger all had spells as the lone striker yet they were isolated and despite a few awkward back passes for the Grange keeper to deal with under pressure we couldn't ask questions of him
Mozza was called to tip one shot round the post but for the next 10 minutes that was it as more solid resolute defending kept Grange out
The UNITS luck deserted them on 70 minutes when Mozza tipped a shot around the post and in doing so injured his wrist, some 5 minutes of treatment later Mozza initially carried on as the UNITS dealt with the corner but in the end he couldn't continue on and new signing Luke stepped up to don the gloves as the UNITS had no reserve keeper so now we were down to 10 and with an outfield player in goal
Credit to Luke he made one decent low save early and then made a great brave save when initially spilling a low shot he recovered to save at the feet of the on-rushing striker
With only 10 minutes remaining and so many UNITS carrying knocks but soldiering bravely on the pressure finally paid off for Grange when disappointingly from our point of view Grange midfielder Clarke got a free run on a well delivered corner and powered a header home from 6 yards much to the delight of Grange's traveling posse
Terrible bad luck for the UNITS who were on the receiving end of a difficult to swallow red card when looking comfortable and then an injury to our keeper but credit to all of the lads who battled hard and for effort alone deserved something out of the game
Grange had a couple of breakaways late on to add to their score as we tried to get more men forward to force an equaliser but it wasn't to be
Full Time Grange Athletic 2 v 1 TS UNITS
Man of the match went to Leon Westwood who climbed off his sick bed to play out of position and put in a brave performance which is testament to his character which showed up a few who couldn't be bothered to be there
Next up we take on Harriers Trust, hopefully, after our two previous games against them were called off
Mozza 8 Chin 8 Gilo 9 Leon 9 Tonka 8 Si 8 Coco 8 Lewis 9 Ashton 9 Aaron 7 Trigger 8
Subs Luke 8 Rob Bell 7
