Belgrave FC (28/10/2001)
2001 - 2002 Season, Hithercroft Under 15s



The recent weather had been very wet but on Saturday the weather was dry and sunny which helped to dry out the pitch. Although there was rain overnight it did not affect the conditions and the weather remained dry and sunny for the match. We were able to field a full team for this match and also benefited from having 2 subs available (Ruari Kerr and Jack Fuller). The referee was Alex Vickery and Des ran the line again for Hithercroft.

Two minutes after the kick-off Dewayne Dublin took a corner for Hithercroft and Matthew Stone hit the ball into the net to score in his debut appearance for us. Four minutes later Belgrave’s Richard Charlton hit the ball from an angle over keeper Phil Lines’s head to level the score. Nine minutes into the game Jason Guy took the ball up the middle of the field, tapped the ball to the right of the advancing Belgrave goalkeeper, went round his left and then assisted the ball into the net to put the home team back into the lead. From a corner, awarded after 19 minutes of play, Lee Shears levelled the score for Belgrave with a shot over Phil’s head. Dewayne then went on a run, passing many players and then, with just the goalkeeper to beat, he hit the ball over the crossbar. James Chapman then came down the right wing and hit the ball wide of Phil to put the visitors into the lead for the first time in the match. Hithercroft then came back with two attacks that ended with Shane Globe and Jason Guy both hitting the ball wide of the posts. Belgrave’s No 6 (Yassir Hamed) then hit the crossbar with a strong shot and the ball fell to a visiting player whose shot was put wide by Shahid Ahmed. From a long ball played down the middle of the field Kevin Ife took the ball towards the right wing and then scored from an angle to bring Hithercroft back level after 36 minutes. Three minutes later, from a Belgrave cross, Steven Allen headed the ball past Phil to put the visitors ahead once more and the first half ended 4-3 to Belgrave.

Three minutes after the restart Shahid took a corner from which Dewayne hammered the ball into the net to bring the scores level again but after another three minutes Belgrave were ahead again courtesy of a Yassir Hamed goal. Adeel Iqbal was then replaced by Ruari as he had sustained an injury. Then Belgrave’s Richard Charleton collected a long ball and had a shot, which Phil blocked, but Richard followed in and scored, extending their lead to 6-4. After 22 minutes of the second half Jason pulled one back for the home side, the referee over-ruling the Belgrave linesman’s off-side flag. Three minutes later the scores were level again when Dewayne took the ball round a number of Belgrave defenders and put the ball into the net. Back came the visitors with another goal from Richard Charleton to put them into the lead once more. Jack Fuller came on to replace Matthew Stone. In the final minute Kevin called for a throw-in to be taken quickly and he took the ball down the left wing and then crossed it for Dewayne to complete his hattrick and bring the final score to 7 all.

This had been a very evenly contested game with end-to-end play. Chances had been missed by both teams but the result was a true reflection of play.


Hithercroft’s ‘Man of the Match’ was awarded to Jason Guy.

Hithercroft scorers were Dewayne Dublin(3), Jason Guy(2), Kevin Ife and Matthew Stone.

Belgrave’s scorers were Richard Charleton (3), Lee Shears, James Chapman, Steve Allen and Yassir Hamed