Division One (East)
Finchampstead 2 Bisley Sports 2
Saturday, 08 February 2003
Finchampstead remain five points clear at the top of the Hellenic Football League Division One (East) table following a 2-2 draw against Bisley Sports on Saturday. The result was viewed as two valuable points dropped and a dent to the hopes of Finchampstead retaining their championship title.
The visitors started the far brighter side, using the flanks well to get at the Finch defence, which looked ragged at times when under pressure. Jim Thorp rattled the woodwork with a venomous strike in the third minute after a good right wing run and cross from Simon Hollis that fully exposed the usually sound Finch defence. Finch keeper Stuart Harris then survived two howlers as he called for, but failed to collect, two firmly struck crosses into his six yard box, but fortunately both flew past his exposed goal without being tucked home by the lively Bisley strike force. It was a good ten minutes before Finch started to produce any quality football, but even then they gave the ball away far too often in their final approaches to goal, although Bruce Rolls was unlucky to see a good twelfth minute effort sail inches wide of the target with Bisley keeper Richard Nash scrambling across his goal line. A fluid-passing move by Bisley in the seventeenth minute brought them a just reward with the opening goal of the afternoon. An unchallenged run down the left by Simon Hollis allowed him to play the ball neatly into the path of Barry McCoy, who in turn fed it out to the right to Reece White, who capitalised on the lack of attention from any Finch defenders to run on and drill the ball hard and low past the blameless Stuart Harris.
Finch responded positively, with Bruce Rolls, Darren Hobbs and Danny Humphreys all testing the visitor?s keeper in the course of the next ten minutes. Bruce Rolls made a great solo run through the Bisley defence in the twenty-eighth minute and was unlucky to see his shot on the turn skim inches past the right upright, with Richard Nash again well beaten. However, having set his sights on goal, Bruce Rolls soon equalised for Finch, planting a delightful header past the stretching Bisley keeper from a set piece in the thirtieth minute. Both sides had chances to go in front in the final fifteen minutes of the half, but their respective defences came out on top and the half-time score line just about reflected the state of play in a highly entertaining forty-five minutes football.
Half Time: 1-1
Finch should have taken an immediate lead as the second half got under way, Bruce Rolls skipping delightfully through the Bisley defence to supply a tap-in for Aaron Gilbert, who did the impossible by sending the ball flying over the crossbar with the open goal at his mercy. Play flowed from end to end before Finch finally nudged in front in the sixty-fourth minute, Bruce Rolls again finding the back of the net, this time at the end of a superlative passing move that saw the ball flow from deep in their own half before swiftly arriving at the feet of Finch?s leading goal scorer on the edge of the Bisley six yard box, who placed it perfectly between the keeper and right hand post to put Finch 2-1 ahead. Barry McCoy had a good chance to get Bisley back on level terms two minutes later, but fluffed his shot under pressure from Lee Goddard, in the end leaving Stuart Harris with a comfortable catch on his goal line. At the other end of the field of play, Bruce Rolls was unlucky not to complete his hat trick when he fired just over the crossbar from twenty yards out after a good move down the left wing by Alan Hawkins that left two chasing defenders in his wake. Then came Bisley?s equaliser with fifteen minutes remaining, a gift of a goal that resulted from poor Finch defending.
Jim Thorp was allowed to run thirty yards through the middle of the park before playing the ball out wide to Barry McCoy, who sailed through the static Finch defence before sending a clinical drive beyond the reach of Stuart Harris to make it 2-2. Five minutes later Finch had a great chance to regain the lead when Bruce Rolls outsmarted and left behind two defenders as he raced into the right hand edge of the six yard box, but instead of playing the ball square to the unmarked Darren Kettle and Aaron Gilbert in front of goal, he attempted an acute angle shot that was blocked by Richard Nash and scrambled away to safety. Finch remained camped in the Bisley half for long periods in the closing ten minutes as they tried hard to grab a winner. They were denied a certain penalty two minutes from the end when Alan Hawkins was brought down during a skilful run through the penalty area towards goal, but the referee astounded the appealing Finch players and supporters by waving play on.
The final whistle was perhaps a welcome relief for the Bisley players, who had defended resolutely when under the cosh in the closing stages, and they well deserved their share of the spoils, having contributed much to the afternoon?s entertainment.
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