Division One (East)
Finchampstead 4 Letcombe FC 1
Saturday, 25 January 2003
Finchampstead maintained their four point lead of the Hellenic Football League Division One (East) with a comfortable 4-1 win over Letcombe on Saturday the glorious blue sky, Spring-like temperature and superb Finchampstead Park playing surface provided the perfect setting for this encounter, and once the game was under way, the crowd was provided with plenty of action on the park, albeit at times lacking in quality in front of goal.
After a good early spell of attacking football, Finch finally made the breakthrough they deserved in the sixth minute. In two minutes of concentrated, intense pressure, three attempts on goal from Andy Knapp, Bruce Rolls and Danny Humphreys were cleared off the line by Letcombe keeper Stuart Game and his floundering defence before Danny Humphreys received a rebound off the keeper?s legs near the far post and fired an unstoppable strike into the roof of the net from five yards out. Finch continued to enjoy the greater share of the play for the next fifteen minutes, stoking the ball neatly around the park in their approach play, but lacking the finishing touch in front of goal, apart that is from two valiant efforts from Bruce Rolls, who took on the Letcombe defence in strong runs towards goal, only to be matched in skill and thwarted by Stuart Game, who made two superb saves to deny Finch a second goal. Letcombe for their part rarely penetrated much beyond the Finch midfield, with only Robert Fairchild causing any concern as he made a few challenging runs on the right that sadly for him lacked the support of his fellow forwards. Their first real chance of the game came in the twenty-second minute from one such run, but having jinked his way through midfield and past two defenders, his final shot from the edge of the penalty area was tipped over the crossbar by Stuart Harris, and the resulting corner came to nothing. Finch went through another good attacking spell midway through the half that again saw the visitors pegged back in their own half for long periods and resulting in a succession of corners.
Aaron Gilbert was unlucky to see his shot curl across the goal-line and go out of play the wrong side of the uptight after combining well with Bruce Rolls on the edge of the penalty area in the twenty-fifth minute, but it was not long before Finch doubled their lead, albeit from a bit of misfortune for the Letcombe keeper. With Letcombe making a rare attacking move, the ball was robbed by the Finch defence and moved quickly downfield in a lightening break by Lee Goddard, Andy Knapp and Darren Kettle that left the Letcombe midfield and defence for dead. With the out-rushing Stuart Game slipping as he attempted to intercept a cross-field pass to the right hand edge of his penalty area from Darren Kettle towards Alan Hawkins, the lively Finch winger skipped past the grounded keeper and brilliantly slotted the ball into the vacant net from the acutest of angles. Stuart Game was the Letcombe hero in the closing stages of the half, keeping his side in contention by making two point-blank saves to deny both Bruce Rolls and Danny Humphreys in the thirty-eighth minute, followed by a brilliant save from Darren Kettle, whose twenty-five yard strike had goal written all over it before being saved on the line by the aerial keeper a minute from the break.
Half Time: 2-0
The second half saw Finch continue where they had left off, with Bruce Rolls slotting the ball just wide of the left post at the end of a tremendous thirty yard run into the penalty area in the fifty-second minute that deserved better fortune. In the sixty-third minute Danny Humphreys missed a great chance to add to his and Finch?s tally when he failed to connect with a superb Aaron Gilbert cross with the open goal at his mercy. However two minutes later Finch?s third goal of the afternoon came from the same combination of players, this time Danny Humphreys seeing his clinical drive towards the left hand corner of the goal rebound off the keeper?s legs, the ball flying out to Aaron Gilbert who lashed it home. The introduction of substitute Steve Burry seemed to inject more purpose into the Letcombe attack and in the eightieth minute his efforts were rewarded when he scored with a well-placed looping header from a firmly driven free kick from Robert Fairchild. Spurred on by this goal, Letcombe paid the penalty for pressing forward in numbers and leaving themselves too exposed at the back. Finch countered a Letcombe attack with a quick break from defence, with a chasing Letcombe defender bringing down Alan Hawkins in a good twenty-five yards from goal. The resulting free-kick was quickly taken by Jeremy Lynch to Darren Kettle, who in turn fed the ball to Bruce Rolls who shook off the challenge of a defender before turning and planting the ball past Stuart Game. Steve Burry had the chance to grab a second goal for Letcombe in the fortieth minute when the referee amazed everyone by awarding the visitors a penalty, but much to the delight of the still bemused Finch players and supporters, justice was done when the spot-kick flew high over the crossbar.
On Saturday Finchampstead visit in-form Penn & Tylers Green for a Hellenic Football League Division One (East) fixture with the reserves entertaining Highworth Town in a Reserve Division One fixture at Finchampstead Park (both 3.00pm)
|
|