Division One (East)
Finchampstead 2 Martin Baker Sports 0
Saturday, 19 October 2002
On a glorious afternoon for football, Finchampstead created enough chances to have treated the large crowd to a hatful of goals in their fixture against Martin Baker Sports on Saturday, but in the end had to settle for a 2-0 victory in their highly entertaining match.
The first half was dominated by attacking Finchampstead play and they should have been four or five goals up in the first half hour, with Justin McClurg unlucky not to have a hat trick under his belt during that period. He was unlucky to see a terrific header fly inches the wrong side of the right upright in the 12th minute as he met a long penetrating diagonal ball from Jamie Clarke, and eight minutes later he timed his run to perfection to meet a Bruce Rolls cross with a stunning volley that had the aerial Mark Caswell well beaten, but thundered back into play off the left post. Then, in the 25th minute, skilful controlled play during an electrifying run through the Bakers defence by James McClurg ended with him playing the ball across the face of the six yard box to his cousin Justin, whose low strike on the run just missed the target as it plunged into the side netting.
As Finch kept up their relentless pressure on the Bakers goal, they should have taken the lead in the 27th minute when Bruce Rolls raced clean through on goal with just the keeper to beat, but the alert Mark Caswell moved off his goal line with lightening speed to meet him, and made a great blocking save to smother the Finch strikers shot. Martin Baker started to get more into the game in the final fifteen minutes of the half, with Lloyd Prince and Eli Clarke making some good runs down the left and right flanks respectively, but rarely finding any support up front, allowing the Finch defence to clear any danger that came their way and leaving Stuart Harris in the Finch goal rarely called into action throughout the first half. With the Finch fans wondering if it was going to be one of those days, Finch eventually went 1-0 in front in the 40th minute, Danny McCarthy rocketing a header past Mark Caswell from a Davyd Bowden cross.
Half Time: 1-0
The pattern of the second half was similar to the first, with Finch still having the lion?s share of the play and playing some exciting flowing football in their creative build-up moves, but failing to convert their possession into goals. Bruce Rolls found the side netting in the 49th minute with a skilful shot on the turn from fifteen yards out at the end of good interplay between Jamie McClurg and Aaron Gilbert. Play quickly moved to the other end in another good run from Eli Clarke, Stuart Harris was on hand to deny Vinnie Pryce as the lively midfielder met a cross on the edge of the penalty area to fire in a respectable effort under pressure from Lee Goddard. As Finch continued to press forward in numbers at every opportunity, the predatory Bruce Rolls put Finch 2-0 in front on the hour when he pounced on a mistake by Vinnie Pryce and swept the ball past the blameless Mark Caswell to score. Stuart Harris made another good save at the foot of his left post in the 63rd minute after Eli Clarke had raced down the right wing and crossed from close to the touchline into Alan Murphy, whose hard low strike really tested the Finch keeper for the first time in the match. Bakers threatened in numbers as the resulting corner kick was delivered, with the ball flying loose inside the penalty area before being cleared to safety by Kevin Prentice.
In the 75th minute Mark Caswell cemented a brilliant afternoon?s play in the Martin Baker goal when he made a sensational diving save to finger tip a Beckham-like curling free kick from Bruce Rolls over his crossbar. The introduction of substitutes Marcus Pearce and John Charlton for the closing fifteen minutes ensured that Finch remained solid in midfield, and they made a positive contribution to the many attacking moves by the league champions in the closing stages. Despite this, Finch was unable to add to their day?s two goal tally, but nevertheless the crowd went away happy having been provided with ninety minutes of good entertainment.
Finchampstead reserves suffered their first defeat of the season going down 2-0 in their Hellenic Football League Reserve Division One match at Carterton Town.
Finchampstead: Harris, Clarke, Prentice, Goddard, Lynch, Gilbert, Bowden, James McClurg, Rolls, Justin McClurg, McCarthy Subs used:Pearce, Charlton, Humphreys.
Martin Baker Sports: Caswell, D Lewis, Hall, Wise, Edwards, Crouchlowe, Stanborough, Clarke, Murphy, Pryce, Prince. Subs used: T. Lewis, Dias.
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