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Beaconsfield Res - Friendly (26/08/2007) 2007 - 2008 Season, Afc Hithercroft  Afc Hithercroft took on Division 1’s FC Beaconsfield Res. for their second pre-season friendly, which took place on a warm and sunny Sunday. There was a strong cooling wind blowing from right to left as viewed from the clubhouse. The grass had been cut during the week and the pitch had been marked out again on Saturday. Hithercroft were playing in their usual all-red kit and for the first half Brian Lewis took charge of the game whilst Pam ran the line for Hithercroft. The game began at 11.06am and within the first minute the home team had an opportunity when Baz David took the ball down the middle, went past a couple of defenders but hit his shot over the crossbar. Just before 5 minutes of play Hithercroft took the lead when Mike Baldock sent the ball forward, Baz then took it down the right and then sent it across the goalmouth where Kevin Howell hit the ball into the net. After 20 minutes, following numerous attacks from Hithercroft, Dan Birch played the ball forward to Baz who flicked it on past a Beaconsfield defender and hit a shot that rebounded from the keeper. Baz collected the rebound and again let fly, the ball again being blocked by the keeper. Four minutes later Hithercroft captain Frank Smith crossed the ball from far out on the left wing and Mike Baldock struck the ball into the net to put Hithercroft 2-0 ahead. On 34 minutes John Baldock went on to replace his brother, Mike, and half-time came round with no further change to the scoreline. During the interval Neil Stretton handed over the goal-keeping role to Mike Dewing, Pat Vaughey took over the linesman’s job from Pam and Brian handed the whistle over to a Beaconsfield official. The game resumed at 11.58am and just 4 minutes later Hithercroft had increased their lead when Kevin hit a terrific 35-yard shot low into the right-hand corner of the net. From the 56th minute onwards the referee began making a number of very ‘controversial’ decisions. Having awarded a free kick to Beaconsfield on the edge of the ‘D’ in the Hithercroft half he then moved the kick forward 10 yards (ie to the penalty spot), presumably because of a remark from a player forming part of the defensive wall. The Beaconsfield No.11 took the kick but hit it well outside the left-hand post. Two minutes later another free kick was awarded to the visitors, this one being about 35 yards out. The No.17 chipped the ball forward and the No.11 headed it on but the Hithercroft keeper came out to safely gather it. In the 59th minute Mike Baldock returned to the field to replace Ryan Forbes. Three minutes later Beaconsfield were awarded another free kick but their No.17 hit his shot over the crossbar. On the 71st minute Hithercroft won a corner-kick on the left and, as the high ball came across, John ran in to head the ball into the top right-hand corner of the net to put Hithercroft 4-0 ahead. Beaconsfield’s Asher Jennings went round Jason Guy and hit a shot that was blocked by the advancing Hithercroft keeper. On 79 minutes Ryan returned to replace Frank Smith, who had been turning up all over the pitch and putting in a superb captain’s role. In the 82nd minute Beaconsfield pushed the ball into the middle of the pitch and their No.11 collected it, turned and struck it into the back of the Hithercroft net to open their scoring. Three minutes later the referee awarded a penalty to Beaconsfield when Jason had been harassing an opponent, forcing him wide of the goal until the player went down. The No.11 struck the ball to the left of the keeper to bring Beaconsfield to 4-2 behind. In the 88th minute Kevin was fouled but amazingly the referee awarded a free kick to Beaconsfield. In his frustration Kevin kicked the ball away, resulting in the free-kick being moved 10 yards closer to the Hithercroft goal, ending up at the left-hand corner of the 18-yard box. Asher’s shot hit the defensive wall and went out of play for a throw-in. In the first minute of added-time another Beaconsfield free-kick was blocked and after a total of 8 added-minutes the final whistle was blown. This had been an excellent performance by Hithercroft in only their second match of the season and augurs well for the coming season. Hithercroft scorers: Kevin Howell (5m, 49m), Mike Baldock (24m), John Baldock (71m) Hithercroft
team (starters): Neil Stretton (GK), Kris Clark, Luke Revell, Jason
Guy, Dan Birch, Mike Baldock, Josh Peters, Baz David, Frank Smith
(Capt), Kevin Howell and Ryan Forbes FC Beaconsfield Res. scorers: No.11 (82m, 85m penalty) |
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