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- League Cup (21/10/2007) 2007 - 2008 Season, Afc Hithercroft  It was a sunny day for Afc Hithercroft’s first League Cup game of the season and the grass was damp after an overnight frost. Sands played in white shirts and so Hithercroft reverted to their usual red kit for this game. Ken Johnson ran the line for Hithercroft for most of the game, Pat taking over late in the second half. The referee was Mr Peter Crawford. The game got under way at 10.33am with Sands only having ten players available until another player turned up during the first half. After 3 minutes Kevin Howell took the ball down the left wing and crossed it into the middle where Dwayne Blake took it on and hit the ball into the right-hand side of the net to put Hithercroft 1-0 ahead. Six minutes later Andre Bushay, the Sands No.16, took the ball down the left and sent it across the goalmouth where Justin Johnston, standing at the far post, headed the ball home to level the score. From the restart the ball was tapped to Kevin Howell on the half-way line and he hit a powerful shot that dipped down below the Sands’ crossbar into the net, taking the keeper completely unawares. On 10 minutes Hithercroft’s Mark Charman had to leave the field of play as he received a tap to the ankle that had been badly bruised the previous day and Dan Birch went on to replace him. Three minutes later Dwayne took the ball down the wing and sent the ball into the middle to Kevin Midgley who directed the ball into the opposition’s net to put the home side 3-1 ahead. On 16 minutes Dwayne again took the ball downfield and, as he reached the edge of the 18-yard box Kevin Midgley ran into open space making himself available for a pass, but Dwayne fired the ball into the net to extend Hithercroft’s lead. Two minutes later Kevin Howell tried a shot that was stopped by the keeper but the ball was dropped and Ryan Forbes ran in to put the ball into the back of the net, giving Hithercroft a 5-1 lead. Kevin Howell has two more shots in the next ten minutes, the first going wide of the left-hand post and the second hitting the crossbar. On 39 minutes Sands’ Adeel Iqbal went through the middle and hit a 25-yard shot but the ball went just wide of the right-hand post. At 11.27am the second half kicked-off and Hithercroft seemed to have taken their foot off the pedal allowing Sands to come back at them. In the 52nd minute Andre Bushay pulled a goal back, hitting the ball over the keeper’s head. Hithercroft then made a substitution, sending on Ashley Anderson to replace Kevin Midgley. On the 60-minute mark Sands were awarded a free-kick about 30 yards out and Andre took the kick, sending in a curving shot that passed just outside the top corner of the net. Seven minutes later Sands were rewarded when Andre crossed the ball from the left wing and Justin found the back of the net to close the score-line to 5-3. One minute later Luke Revell cleared the ball from the Hithercroft goal-line following a lobbed ball from Sands. Andre then took the ball down the wing and hit a good shot that Neil did well to tip over the crossbar in the 80th minute. The Sands’ No.7, Zahir Hussain, had his name entered in the referee’s book for dissent following a free-kick award to his opponents. Two minutes into added time Ryan floated a ball in from the right and Frank Smith headed the ball into the net for Hithercroft’s sixth goal. Four minutes later Hithercroft took a throw-in and Frank, standing about 35 yards out turned and sent a high curling shot which dipped below the crossbar above the keeper’s fingers and this gave Hithercroft a 7-3 victory. At the very end of the game Dwayne Blake got into an argument with the referee and received a yellow card. Unfortunately he continued to argue and his team-mates were unable to calm him down and so the referee produced a red card. Hithercroft had dominated most of the first half but had then lost commitment, allowing Sands to take over for most of the second half. They must maintain their performance over the full 90 minutes if they are to do well in the cup games and the second division. Incidentally, Sands’ Adeel Iqbal used to play for Pam when she managed a team for Hithercroft some seasons ago and Adeel received a number of trophies which included Club Player of the Year for 1999/2000 season when playing for the Under 13s. Hithercroft scorers: Dwayne Blake (3m, 16m), Kevin Howell (9m), Kevin Midgley (13m), Ryan Forbes (18m), Frank Smith (92m, 96m) Hithercroft team: Neil Stretton (GK), Kris Clark, Luke Revell, Jason Guy, Mark Charman, Kevin Midgley, Dan Allman, Dwayne Blake, Frank Smith (Capt), Kevin Howell and Ryan Forbes Hithercroft subs: Dan Birch replaced Mark Charman (10m), Ashley Anderson replaced Kevin Midgley (53m) Sands scorers: Justin Johnston (9m, 67m), Andre Bushay (52m) |
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