Hithercroft FC - League (30/11/2008)
2008 - 2009 Season, Afc Hithercroft



The weather for the game at Broom & Wade was similar to that of last week but, on this occasion, the rain was continuous throughout the game. The pitch was muddy and became worse as the game progressed and so ruined what could have been an exciting derby game. Afc Hithercroft were without Frank Smith, John Harry, Ross Drabble and keeper Neil Stretton and so Batiste Lopez donned the goalkeeper’s jersey. Dan Allman arrived after the game had started and so had to wait on the substitutes’ bench along with Jamal Blake and Shakib Latif. The referee was Mr P. McGann and Pat Vaughey ran the line. For the purposes of this report the home team will be referred to as Croft.

The game began at 10.34am and the first scoring opportunity fell to the home side when, on 12 minutes, they lobbed the ball over the Afc keeper but Batiste turned, raced back towards his goal and caught the ball before it could cross the line. However, one minute later Steve Simmonds collected the ball on the right, turned into the 18-yard box and struck the ball inside the far left-hand post to put Croft 1-0 ahead. Afc’s Ryan Forbes hit a shot that came back off the Croft keeper, Matt Norgate, and Ryan’s second attempt was also blocked by Matt. In the 16th minute Afc were awarded a free-kick just outside of the 18-yard box and Baz David’s high curling shot was tipped over the crossbar by the keeper. Afc’s Niko Catigoudis, presented with an open goal on 28 minutes, mis-kicked the ball wide of the left-hand post. Although the visiting team were pressing hard their finishing, once again, was poor with shots being either off-target or straight at the keeper.

At 11.25am the second half began and four minutes later Batiste pushed a shot from Steve Simmonds onto the post and out of play. Afc made a substitution on 55 minutes sending on Dan Allman to replace captain Jahmel Sutton and then, on the hour mark, replaced Zeesham Ullah and Niko Catigoudis with Jamal Blake and Shakib Latif. Baz David was having a terrible game, constantly losing the ball in tackles and, when he did set up a ‘one-to-one’ with the Croft keeper he either hit the ball wide or straight at the keeper. On 82 minutes Baz sent the ball into the middle and Jamal Blake got his head to it but Matt saved his on-target shot. In the 88th minute Baz was brought down and was awarded a free-kick to be taken just outside the 18-yard box. After receiving treatment on his ankle Baz hit his shot over the crossbar and then had to leave the field for the remainder of the game. This meant that, as Afc had used all three of their subs, they had to see out the rest of the game with 10 players. On 90 minutes Croft increased their lead when Jonny Norgate hit an angled shot into the net. Two minutes into added time Afc went on the attack; Ricardo Barton played the ball out to Kris Clark, Kris took the ball down the wing before crossing it inside from where Jamal hit the ball into the Croft net. At the final whistle Croft emerged as 2-1 winners with Afc having had most of the possession and territorial advantage but having squandered so many scoring opportunities.

Afc Hithercroft scorer: Jamal Blake (92m)

Afc Hithercroft M.o.m: Batiste Lopez

Afc Hithercroft team: Batiste Lopez (GK), Michael Louise, Luke Revell, Kris Clark, Zeesham Ullah, Ricardo Barton, Ryan Forbes, Tyrone Francis, Niko Catigoudis, Baz David, Jahmel Sutton (capt)
Afc Hithercroft subs: Dan Allman replaced Jahmel Sutton (55m), Jamal Blake and Shakib Latif replaced Zeesham Ullah and Niko Catigoudis (60m)

Hithercroft FC scorers: Steve Simmonds (13m), Jonny Norgate (90m)