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| Longwick
Sports Club - Subsidiary Junior Cup (15/04/2007) 2006 - 2007 Season, Afc Hithercroft  It was sunny and dry with a cool breeze for this game and the pitch was hard and dry. Pat had managed to mow the grass at each end of the pitch on Saturday but the remainder was a little longer. Neil was unavailable for this game and so Alan McKie joined us for this game to take on the goalkeeping role. Unfortunately a number of Hithercroft players were unavailable or just failed to turn up and so Brian Lewis had to turn out to make up a team of just 11 players. Given the importance this and next week’s games, where we need to win by a total of 9 clear goals across the 2 games, this was extremely disappointing and could mean that we fail to progress into the Semi-Finals. The referee was Mr Josh White and Afc Hithercroft had Pam run the line for the first half and Pat took over at half-time. The game kicked off at 10.35am and after 4 minutes Hithercroft had taken the lead when Frank Smith sent the ball out to Baz David, on the right, and Baz turned inside and struck the ball into the opponent’s net to put his side 1-0 ahead. On 8 minutes the Longwick No.8 hit a shot wide of the left-hand post and six minutes later their No.7, Mark Buckle, sent his header outside the right-hand post. In the 15th minute Mark struck a curving shot from 25 yards but it passed just wide of the right-hand post. On 18 minutes Longwick won a corner kick on the right and their No.9 sent in a curving ball that Jamie Mallott got his head to and his glancing header ended up in the Hithercroft net to level the score. Dan Birch had to leave the field in the 20th minute to have an ankle injury treated but returned after five minutes. Kevin Howell sent a shot over the crossbar from a free-kick awarded to Hithercroft on 40 minutes. In the second minute of first-time stoppage Dan Birch handled the ball in the 18-yard box and the referee awarded Longwick a penalty kick. The No.10 sent the ball towards the left of the goal but Alan had chosen to dive in the correct direction and blocked the shot, the ball subsequently being cleared. The second half kicked off at 11.32am and just 90 seconds into the half Kevin struck the ball into the top left-hand corner of the net from about 25 yards out to put Hithercroft back into the lead by 2 goals to 1. In the 66th minute Luke threw the ball in from the left, Baz headed the ball on to Kevin in the 18-yard box and Kevin turned to strike the ball into the net to put Hithercroft 3-1 up. Longwick then made a substitution, a luxury which Hithercroft were unable to make. On 71 minutes Mark Buckle ran into the 18-yard box from the left and hit the ball into the far side of the net to reduce the visitor’s deficit to just one goal. Two minutes later Alan pulled off a great reaction save to stop Longwick from getting an equaliser as Longwick stepped up the pace. On 75 minutes Mark took a shot from the edge of the 18-yard box but the ball passed just wide of the right-hand post. Hithercroft were awarded a free-kick Baz curved the ball in from a free-kick but the ball went just outside the top right-hand corner of the net. Hithercroft’s Kevin Howell was booked in the 79th minute for ‘stealing’ ground at a throw-in and on 80 minutes the Longwick No.4 also had his name go into the referee’s book, this time for dissent. This result means that Hithercroft need to win next week’s match against Red Lion by at least 8 goals to qualify for the Semi-Finals on goal difference (or by 7 to go through on goals-scored). Failure to do so will see Hithercroft Res qualify.
Afc Hithercroft team: Alan McKie (GK), Dan Birch, Kris Clark, Jamaine Warner, Luke Revell, Baz David (Capt), Kevin Howell, Frank Smith, Tyrone Francis, Brian Lewis, George Caufield. Longwick Sports Club scorers: Jamie Mallott (18m), Mark Buckle (71m) |
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