Gosport 2-2 Chandlers Ford Youth
Mid Solent B League – 1st March 2008
Mid Solent B League – 1st March 2008
With CFY coming back from a heavy defeat away to Lee Rangers last weekend, Chandlers we’re always going to be in for a tough game against a Gosport side who find themselves riding high in the table in fourth position.
Liam Godfrey played the role of goalkeeper for the first half once more, covering for the injured Lee Robertson. Michael Wall started up front along side Miles Hodge, but was in between the sticks for the second.
Richard had just eleven men in the run in to kick off, meaning his team selection was made a whole lot easier for him! Ahmed Sfagsi and Alex Evens had both arrived just in time for kick off but had to be satisfied by a place on the bench.
Hodge was handed a place in the starting line up by merit for his efforts and performance in training on Thursday and did not disappoint here either.
CFY started the match strongly but let Gosport have the first attack of the game. The home side raced through one on one with keeper Godfrey, Beattie ran behind the striker and clipped the back of his legs, with the referee of the belief that there was enough contact to award a penalty.
With the score at 0-0, Godfrey guessed the right way to keep out the spot kick from 12 yards with a fine save to keep CFY in the game.
David Smith had to be replaced due to injury early on and it was Ahmed who was brought on to replace Smith. Michael Sawbridge dropped into the centre of defence with Sfagsi slotting into the midfield.
Ten minutes later CFY were awarded a penalty of their own. Hodge was taken down by the Gosport goalkeeper after a fantastic cross (David Beckham style) from Jozef Montigue on the right hand side. Beattie stepped up confidently from 12 yards and made no mistake slotting home to the right hand side to put CFY 1-0 up.
Soon after makeshift striker Michael Wall, doubled the advantage with a very tidy finish to give Chandlers a more comfortable lead at 2-0.
In the last minute of the first half Michael Sawbridge gifted Gosport a second penalty of the game with a reckless, needless challenge inside the penalty area. Liam again went the right way and made a good attempt to repeat his earlier save by getting a hand to it. Despite Godfrey’s efforts, Gosport’s second penalty taker of the day managed to squeeze his penalty kick through and into the net to pull a goal back deep into first half injury time.
Ford can be very pleased with their first half display with almost everybody putting in their very best for the cause. Jacob Ellery was particularly outstanding playing at left back, where he battled for everything and dealt with the pace of the Gosport strike force with relative ease.
HALF TIME: Gosport 1-2 CFY
Had Ford gone in at the break with a two goal lead, things would have been a little more comfortable with that extra breathing space but it wasn’t to be and they had a fight on their hands to try and hold on to their now slender lead.
CFY still created plenty of chances and opportunities for a new look strike force of Liam Godfrey, who had come out of goal to be replaced by Michael Wall, and Alex Evens who was brought on at the break for Ryan Chinn.
Wall had to be on his guard to keep out a couple of early attempts from Gosport, making good use of his feet to make the saves. He then demonstrated an even better save this time tipping a long-range drive over the cross bar.
Gosport eventually found their equaliser, which was deserved for their majority share in possession. It was an extremely well-worked goal as the home side’s number 11 beat two players down the right hand side with great skill before having the vision and craft to pick out a man in the middle with an excellent delivery. The ball was headed into the net to beat Wall and round off a good move for 2-2.
Even then, Ford had the character to keep playing their football and not be distracted by the dangerous challenges that were flying in from their opponents. James Parsonage was caught late by one particularly nasty tackle but managed to play through the pain to complete the game.
Liam was a credit to himself and the club for his tireless running in attack as he tried to hassle the Gosport defence at every opportunity, which paid off as he made things happen creating fantastic chances to restore the lead.
One occasion saw Liam make a powerful run down the right and into the penalty area to round the goalkeeper before rolling the ball square across the face of goal to put the ball on a plate for Evens. Unfortunately it was a very big miss from close range with an empty goal at his mercy, the ball bobbling off of his left shin.
Michael Sawbridge had a very good attempt kept out by a splendid save from Gosport’s small but agile goalkeeper, who had to be alert and was to palm over the cross bar with a save right out of the top drawer to stop the powerfully struck free kick from all of 35 yards.
CFY looked as though they were the more likely to go on and win it but they just couldn’t find a way through.
The game was wrapped up shortly after one last chance from the visitors. Following yet more brilliant play from Godfrey, who had muscled his way through down the left this time, to hold the ball up before squaring for Michael who had burst forward only to see his curling shot crash against the cross bar and away to safety.
A point away from home against a side that have played consistently well throughout the season was thoroughly enjoyable to be a part of. It was a shame not to have pinched a winner towards the end when we had so much pressure on the Gosport goal, but few could have expected us to get a result here let alone play in the positive manner that we did.
Next week sees us up against the same side in a home fixture for the second round of the back-to-back fixtures. If we show the same spirit about us then we will well on our way to picking up another pleasing, positive result. Well done all!
FULL TIME: Gosport 2-2 CFY
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