Division One (East)
Englefield Green Rovers 0 Finchampstead 3
Saturday, 23 November 2002
Player injuries forced Finchampstead to field an unusual starting line-up for their Hellenic Football League Division One (East) visit to Englefield Green Rovers on Saturday, but any pre-match concerns turned out to be unfounded as they returned from Surrey with maximum points from a workmanlike and well deserved 3-0 victory
Rovers? defence was given an early taste of what was to come in the opening five minutes and only two brilliant point blank saves from Davyd Bowden by man-of-the-match John Chapman kept them on level terms. Having said that, on both occasions better finishing by the young Finch striker would have seen Finch holding a comfortable lead, but they had to wait until the tenth minute before the deadlock was broken, when Davyd Bowden made the old cliché third time lucky ring true with a well taken goal from the acutest of angles after he had beaten Rovers? poor attempt at an offside trap. Finch continued to dominate the first half hour, enjoying the majority of the possession and pulling the home defence apart with some good runs down the flanks and through the middle of the park, but although an abundance of scoring chances were created, the necessary quality of finish was sadly lacking, and John Chapman was rarely tested in the Rovers goal. For their part, in the first half hour, Rovers few chances came from sporadic runs from deep in their own defence, with their best effort coming in the eleventh minute when the lively Chris Wells latched onto a long clearance from his skipper Richard Banks and ran on to fire a tremendous goal bound shot that Finch keeper Stuart Harris did well to tip over his crossbar in an aerial display a gymnast would have been proud of. Despite having almost total dominance of the first half play, Finch again had Stuart Harris to thank for keeping them 1-0 ahead at the break when he was forced to make another spectacular diving save in the fortieth minute from Chris Wells, who had been given total freedom on the edge of the penalty area to tee-up his shot, that flew venomously towards the top left hand corner before being finger-tipped over the bar by the agile and alert Finch keeper.
Half Time: 0-1
Finch continued the second half in similar attacking mode, with Martin Turner and Danny McCarthy making some skilful runs down the left and right flanks respectively, both delivering crosses into the box that had the Rovers? defence in tatters and increasingly causing them to argue amongst themselves. Finch soon cashed in on this rearguard disarray and went 2-0 in front at the end of a delightful move in the sixty-third minute. Marcus Pearce won the ball on the edge of the Finch penalty area and combined well with fellow defender Kevin Prentice before the ball was played neatly into midfield to Matt Corder, who in turn fed Aaron Gilbert on the left wing, whose cross to the far side of the Rovers six yard box was skilfully turned back by Martin Turner, allowing the incoming Grant Lewin to side-step a lunging tackle before juggling the ball and thumping it into the roof of the net. Down but not out, Rovers tried hard to get back into the game. Two earlier tremendous saves by John Chapman from Martin Turner and Davyd Bowden had inspired his players to greater efforts, and as they got more into the game, they were desperately unlucky to see a well-struck thirty yard free kick from Chris Wells rebound out of play off the top of the crossbar in the sixty-eighth minute. Finch heeded the warning and started once again to regain more control of the play. Grant Lewin sliced a hurried shot wide of the target when well placed in front of goal in the seventy-first minute, but it was Davyd Bowden who put the match result beyond doubt in the seventy-third minute when from a superbly weighted cross, he sent a fine looping header over Chris Wells and two defenders into the back of the net.
In the closing stages the woodwork again denied Rovers a consolation goal, this time Mark Brunton striking a scorcher from fifteen yards out against the crossbar five minutes from time, but apart from that, the Finch goal never looked like being breached.
After a poor recent run of results, it was a welcome and visible relief for the Finch players and management to get back to winning ways. Now out of this season?s league and county cup competitions, they can now concentrate their efforts on retaining their championship title and Steve McClurg and Bob Langridge are looking to strengthen the side to replace two recent departures.
On Saturday Finchampstead entertain Chalfont Wasps in a Hellenic Football League Division One (East) fixture at Finchampstead Park (2.15pm) and the reserves entertain Sonning in the third round of the Berks & Bucks Junior Cup on the Finchampstead Leas ground (1.30pm).
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