LM v Bowers - vase

[BUFC]

Report from another forum........

 

 

FA Carlsberg Vase, First Qualifying Round

Long Melford 3(2)-(1)2 Bowers & Pitsea

Stoneylands, New Road, Long Melford nr Sudbury, Suffolk

Attendance: 56 (looked barely 40)

Admission: £6. Programme £1 (36 pages, outer 4 colour. Mostly general stuff but a few interesting features, including a 'Where are they now?' of former Melford players)

 

For most of the first half, it looked like the home side were romping towards an easy win, and I was about to write another obituary on bottom half Essex Senior League clubs. However a late goal in the first half saw Bowers flick into life, and in the end will feel agrieved to have at least forced extra time, but overall conceding two early goals then a poor goal late on left them with too much to do, and it's the Eastern Counties Division 1 side who will visit Premier side Woodbridge in the next round. Perhaps all the more satisfying for the home side, who appeared to have no more than two substitutes on the bench today.

 

Inside the first couple of minutes a poorly conceded penalty was put away to give the hosts an early lead, and before ten minutes were up, another candidate for goal of the season, when a thirty yard rocket smashed in off the angle of post and bar, and Melford were two to the good. The Suffolk side could easily have increased their lead, with a long range shot inches wide, a toe-end on a ball from six yards trickling agonisingly wide of the far post, and the Bowers keeper having to tip over a ball swung in from the byline. Amongst all this, the visitors looked totally inept, having a blazing row amongst each other after a defensive lapse, a throw-in near the penalty area that went straight behind for a goal kick, and a defender standing still taking over five seconds to clear the ball from the edge of the box, by which time he was disposessed.

Only one result seemed likely...yet five minutes before the break, in their first half decent move of any note, Bowers had a lifeline when some fine play down the right ended in the ball being crossed to one of Bowers' few shining lights, Calvin Poku, who, er, poked the ball home at the far post. Two minutes later a similar move almost brought Bowers dramatically level, but this time the ball went across the face of goal. The sudden Bowers renaissance was almost cut short before the whistle when some confusion at the back allowed a Melford player plenty of time in the box to fire home, but for some reason he took too long and the chance fell, but Bowers suddenly had their tails up at the interval.

 

...And that showed in the second half, as the Essex Senior League side commanded much of the second period, with Poku early on doing well to win a ball forward, almost lobbing the keeper, but the effort was straight at the home keeper. Six minutes later and Poku again almost equalised with a downward header, which the keeper brilliantly kept out with a low diving palm to his left to maintain Melford's lead, and soon after the hour mark a fine Bowers shot from 25 yards hit the side netting. Inbetween a rare but huge chance for the Suffolk side to restore their two goal lead, but the shot in the box went badly wide. The away side however still looked dominant, and eight minutes remained when they missed another great chance, when an unmarked player in space in the box hesitated when about to pull the trigger, allowing the keeper and defender to combine for a double block from close range.

Those misses would prove pivotal five minutes from time, when a rather innocuous free kick should have been gathered by the keeper, but for reasons known only to him, he spilt it, no Bowers defender reacted quickly to the loose ball, to allow another Long Melford player a simple tap in, and all the pressing in the second half for Bowers was undone in one single moment. There was still a bit of time for a little more drama, when some sleepy defending on the stroke of 90 minutes allowed a cross to be lifted to the back post and followed home to give the away side a lifeline, and during several minutes of added time, the Melford defence had a number of nervy moments, including a corner that was almost converted but just evaded everyone, and the home side just clung on for a victory that seemed certain so early on, but in the end were a little fortunate to achieve.

 

This was my first visit to Stoneylands incredibly after all this time, leaving just Mildenhall to complete Suffolk senior clubs for me. Long Melford is a pretty village just past Sudbury, with the ground just off the centre of the village, around the corner from the cricket club and some narrow old terraced streets.

The entrance is around some temporary barriers in one corner of the ground, upto a portacabin manned by an elderly woman taking the coins. The entrance side is home to the changing rooms/clubhouse building, an ageing plaster construction with some rotting wooden window frames and a few wooden shelves along part of the edge. Inside the clubhouse an old carpet sits underneath various wooden table and chairs, with Sky TV sitting on the floor in a corner of the room. The clubhouse has brick frontage with club trophies above it, with a couple of the usual on tap. It seemed there was also a kid's party going on in the main clubhouse area at the same time as the football today. Hot food including chicken fillets are served from a window on the side of the building, with a couple of old picnic benches in front of it.

On the same side is a very tiny covered standing area, with a dirty plastic transparent roof next to the emergency exit back to the car park. Beyond that is a small at-cost white seated stand of c.75 seats, on a slightly elevated concrete foundation. The other three sides are uncovered hard standing. Behind the far goal is open fields, with a small substation and (what seemed to be) a public footpath seeming to lead straight from a gap in the fence. Opposite the stand the railed pitch has mesh underneath the rail, to stop the ball travelling underneath some small conifer trees and onto the adjacent cricket pitch, and is also home to the dugouts. The nearside goal has a tall net to stop the ball landing on any of the houses on that side, and also appeared to be home to a wheelbarrow on top of some overgrown grass.

 

One final comment on the game - quite pleasing to see the Bowers manager John Doyle berate his team for several moans at the referee and officials, telling them to back off and also look at themselves for getting into difficulty before an incident. Even when he thought the ref was wrong, he was quick to urge his team (when chasing the game) that moaning would waste time and do them no good. How refreshing. A shame a lot of other managers don't follow Doyley's lead and start treating the Respect programme, with a little, well, respect...