Risborough Rangers (20/04/2005)
2004 - 2005 Season, Hithercroft Youth


The weather was cloudy and dull for this midweek game and the intended 6.30pm start was delayed by Hithercroft’s late arrival. It was therefore agreed that the game would be played over a shortened time period of approximately 25-minute halves. Paul Morgan was the captain of Hithercroft for this match. The referee was Mr K. Saunders and the linesmen were Kevin Ife and Steve Campling, the Risborough Manager.

The game eventually began at 6.52pm and in the 6th minute Risborough sent the ball into the middle from a corner but the Hithercroft keeper palmed the resultant shot over the crossbar. At 7.04pm Risborough played the ball down to Matt Wilson-Jones who, positioned at the edge of the 18-yard box, sent the ball over the keeper as he came forward and the ball dropped into the net to give the home team a 1-0 lead. Four minutes later Matt again had put the ball into the Hithercroft net, the linesman’s off-side flag being over-ruled by the referee and so Risborough were 2-0 up. Although this success had raised the Ranger’s aspirations it had also served as a badly-needed wake-up call to the visitors. In the 20th minute, as Rhydian Grange took the ball forward he was brought down about 30-yards out but Dan Birch’s shot at goal from the free kick went over the crossbar. Four minutes later Rangers sent a long ball down the middle but Richard Vere returned a long high shot back towards the Risborough goal. Dewayne Dublin met the ball and back-headed it from close range into the net to reduce the Hithercroft deficit to 2-1. One minute later Mr Saunders blew his whistle to signal that the 25-minute first half had come to an end, causing quite a surprise to many of the Hithercroft players who were not expecting a shortened game.

The second half got under way at 7.22pm and within 60 seconds the scores had been levelled. Dan Birch sent a cross in from the left wing, Dewayne collected it and ran forward to hammer the ball past Chris Hykin, the Risborough keeper, to give Hithercroft their second goal. From a Hithercroft throw-in Paul Morgan received the ball, flipped it over his head, turned and laid it off to Rhydian in the middle of the field but Rhydian’s 30-yard effort went just outside of the right-hand post. At 7.27pm Risborough made a substitution, sending on James Campling to replace John Little and one minute later Hithercroft replaced David Blackman with Mark Sadler. In the 33rd minute of the game Rhydian played the ball down the middle to Dewayne who pushed the ball to his right to Tyrone Francis. He struck a superbly powerful and accurate shot from the corner of the 18-yard box into the far side of the net to put Hithercroft into the lead for the first time in the match. Hithercroft had begun to ‘up’ their game and were putting the Rangers’ defence under a lot of pressure. However, they were still being counter-attacked by the Risborough forwards and Matt Wilson-Jones was particularly dangerous. From a thow-in on the right Matt sent the ball across to Jonathon Munday who, being completely unmarked, ran forward and tried a shot but the Hithercroft keeper had come forward and managed to block his shot. The final whistle went at 7.50pm to signal the end of this short match, Hithercroft ending up 3-2 winners.


Hithercroft’s goal scorers:-
Dewayne Dublin (24 mins and 26 mins) and Tyrone Francis (33 mins).

Hithercroft team:-
Simon Mines (PT), Paul Morgan, Peter Morgan, Baz David, Richard Vere, Dewayne Dublin, Richard Vere, Rhydian Grange, Alan McKie, David Blackman (CT) and Tyrone Francis (E).
The sub used was Mark Sadler. The unused subs were Ben Steele and Jamaine Warner.


Risborough’s scorer:-
Matt Wilson-Jones (12 mins and 16 mins)

Risborough Rangers team:-
Chris Hykin, Daniel Nunn, James Gibbons, Richard White, Thomas Stevens, Paul Masters, Matt Wilson-Jones, John Little, Matt Gunnell, Jonathan Munday and Alex Edwards.
The sub was James Campling.