Division One (East)
Finchampstead 2 Rayners Lane 2
Saturday, 22 February 2003
Defending champions Finchampstead chances of retaining the Hellenic Football League Division One (East) title have slimmed after inept second half defending saw them throw away a 2-0 lead against third placed Rayners Lane, who were delighted to return from Finchampstead Park with a share of the spoils at the end of an entertaining 2-2 draw.
Having weathered a five minute spell of Finch pressure, it was the visitors who looked the more adventurous side for the next quarter of an hour, with Stuart Harris in the Finch goal making a great save to deny Tom Metcalfe in the eleventh minute as Lane battled hard for the lead against an at times slow and ragged looking Finch defence. Apart from one or two isolated attacks, Finch rarely troubled the visitors goalkeeper, and so it was against the run of play that Finch took the lead in the 24th minute, Bruce Rolls demonstrating his close control skills and venomous finishing power as he brilliantly turned to drive the ball hard and low past Tim Piper in the Rayners Lane goal after a good build-up play that saw the ball travel the length of the park. The cushion of the goal seemed to provide a much needed boost to the Finch midfield players, as for the first time they got behind their strikers in raiding deep into Lane?s half. In the 29th minute Lee Goddard was unlucky to see his well directed header from a corner deflected off the goal line by the finger-tips of Tim Piper, but sadly for Finch it was the tall keeper that was quickly on his feet to scramble the loose ball to safety before any of the home players reacted. Five minutes later at the other end, Stuart Harris for the second time denied the lively Tom Metcalfe, this time pushing a twenty-yard effort over his crossbar at the end of a good attacking movement involving Danny Mills and Darren Gardiner. As play flowed from end-to-end, it was Finch that created the final chance of the first half and the opening chance of the second, in the 43rd minute a superbly weighted long cross-field ball from Andy Knapp found Danny Humphreys out on the right, whose pin-point centre to Bruce Rolls was headed backwards towards goal, but again saved on the line by the fully-stretched Tim Piper.
Half Time: 1-0
Six minutes into the second half, Tim Piper was again the Rayners Lane saviour, this time denying Danny Humphreys when he somehow got to a thunderbolt from the striker that he tipped over his bar to deny Finch a second goal. However as Finch piled on the pressure, a second goal was not long coming, with the predatory instincts of Bruce Rolls coming to the fore he latched onto a poor under-hit back pass from Lee Whelan and rounded the keeper to score in the 59th minute. Looking well on top now as Lane chased the play, Finch appeared to be in a comfortable position, but then things started to go horribly wrong. In the 65th minute, the Finch defence was hopelessly exposed by a cross-field ball from right to left that found Darren Gardiner totally unmarked and in acres of space as he ran into the penalty area unchallenged to strike the ball sweetly past Stuart Harris. Finch responded positively enough and two minutes later was unlucky not to regain a two goal advantage when Danny Russell struck the underside of the crossbar with a blistering close range effort from the acutest of angles, the ball dropping at the feet of grateful defender Jamie Robinson who thumped it downfield to relieve the pressure on the Rayners Lane goal. Then, in the 75th minute, the Finch defence was hopelessly exposed for the second time, leaving the back-pedalling Andy Knapp the sole player between Tom Metcalfe and the Finch goalkeeper, but when he failed to get a tackle in, the skilful Lane striker was quick to seize on this, and stride forward before planting the equaliser beyond the reach of Stuart Harris to make it 2-2. Both sides created chances to grab maximum points in the final fifteen minutes, with Finch?s Danny Russell perhaps the most unlucky with a cross-come-shot that sailed over Tim Piper but drifted inches past the far post begging for a tap-in in the eightieth minute, followed by two Rayners Lane?s efforts from Tom Metcalfe and Jamie Robinson, who both failed to find the target at the end of good attacking moves by the west London side in the closing ten minutes.
In the end, it was the Rayners Lane players that whooped for joy at the shrill of the referee?s final whistle, knowing that the two points denied Finch has narrowed the gap at the top as they mount their own bid for the title.
On Saturday, Finchampstead Reserves entertain North Leigh in a Hellenic Football League Reserve Division One match (3.00pm).
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