Shot out of Cup
EASTLEIGH V ALDERSHOT TOWN
THURSDAY 15th MARCH 2007
Hampshire Senior Cup - 1/4 Final
In this Hampshire Senior Cup Quarter Final, it was the second string of Aldershot Town who edged past a much change Eastleigh side, who have already played twice this week with a further game this Saturday, by a solitary goal in the 56th minute.
On the bright side, it is one less game to fit into an already congested schedule. However, Eastleigh having comprehensively beaten Farnborough Town in the league a short while ago, the side who now face Aldershot in the semi final, there was a good chance of winning the competition.
That said the first half was very uninspiring with neither side finding a clear-cut chance and both keepers have relatively little to do.
After a fairly good opening from Eastleigh, Liam George looking the brightest player having a couple of half chances, it was Aldershot who made the first real threatening attack. The pace of Kirk Hudson down the right hand side saw him past Ian Oliver and whip an excellent cross to the back post where Mark Pritchard, from a tight angle fired across goal and just wide of the mark.
Jack Smith was cautioned by Premiership referee, Rob Stiles despite appearing to take the ball. There was another talking point five minutes later when Darren Wheeler’s cross from the left looked to have struck the hand of Dave Winfield in the area. It wasn’t given and instead Ben Bosley was penalised.
There was a brief scare for The Shots when Dave Winfield sliced horribly over his own cross bar from an Ian Oliver ball into the box.
Just before the half time whistle either side had a good chance of opening the scoring. Eastleigh’s best move in the game involving Liam Green, and Phil Cousins who helped the ball on nicely with a clever flick into the path of Liam George. The former Luton forward hit a snapshot just inside the area that was held by Aldershot stopper Louis Wells.
At the other end, a well worked move across the front led to Mark Wardell firing a good first time header narrowly over the cross bar following Mark Pritchard’s cross.
HALF TIME – Eastleigh 0-0 Aldershot Town
With nothing between the sides from the first forty-five minutes, the second half looked to be heading the same way.
Early on Ben Bosley fired a shot goalwards only to be denied by a good block, and then shortly after Darren Wheeler and Ian Oliver worked an opening for the Winchester City loanee Phil Cousins whose low drive skidded past the post.
It was the visitors who took the lead with what was the only goal of the game in the 56th minute. Failing to clear the ball, KIRK HUDSON pounced on the defensive error from Eastleigh with a strike that couldn’t be kept out despite James Pullen getting a hand to it.
This proved to be the decider and there was little by way of goalscoring opportunities thereafter, with Aldershot, having taken the lead, edging the game looking good going forwards.
Eastleigh’s efforts cannot be faulted however, and almost straight from the restart, Liam George produced a fine save out of Wells who tipped the effort behind for a corner.
A double substitution saw Liam Winzar and Adam Roberts come into the action to replace Liam Green and Darren Wheeler, to give Jason Dodd the chance to put his eye over some of the youngsters at the club.
In the 76th minute Ben Bosley limped off for Eastleigh and was replaced by Brett Williams.
The match remained quiet once more, just as it had done in the first half and then all of a sudden a couple of chances came in the dieing moments of the game. The three substitutes, Roberts, Winzar and Williams were all involved in a good move but there was to be no end product.
If there was a chance to nick an equaliser, it came in the 89th minute falling to Adam Roberts. The same combination crafted the opportunity with Williams nicking the ball in a good position to knock it out wide for Winzar. The young right sided player curled an excellent ball into the centre to pick out Roberts, back from Andover for the night, but it was a scuffed effort with the outside of the boot that flew wide of goal.
With time running out, Rob Marshall was pushed up front. A long ball forward from Cousins was met by a speculative bicycle kick from the centre half but in the end it was an easy pick up for the keeper.
All in all, it was a good run out for the youngsters and those coming back from injury if nothing else. It is the game at Welling on Saturday that will count, hopefully the consecutive run of league wins will continue!
FULL TIME – Eastleigh 0-1 Aldershot Town
JAMIE MONTIGUE
THURSDAY 15th MARCH 2007
Hampshire Senior Cup - 1/4 Final
In this Hampshire Senior Cup Quarter Final, it was the second string of Aldershot Town who edged past a much change Eastleigh side, who have already played twice this week with a further game this Saturday, by a solitary goal in the 56th minute.
On the bright side, it is one less game to fit into an already congested schedule. However, Eastleigh having comprehensively beaten Farnborough Town in the league a short while ago, the side who now face Aldershot in the semi final, there was a good chance of winning the competition.
That said the first half was very uninspiring with neither side finding a clear-cut chance and both keepers have relatively little to do.
After a fairly good opening from Eastleigh, Liam George looking the brightest player having a couple of half chances, it was Aldershot who made the first real threatening attack. The pace of Kirk Hudson down the right hand side saw him past Ian Oliver and whip an excellent cross to the back post where Mark Pritchard, from a tight angle fired across goal and just wide of the mark.
Jack Smith was cautioned by Premiership referee, Rob Stiles despite appearing to take the ball. There was another talking point five minutes later when Darren Wheeler’s cross from the left looked to have struck the hand of Dave Winfield in the area. It wasn’t given and instead Ben Bosley was penalised.
There was a brief scare for The Shots when Dave Winfield sliced horribly over his own cross bar from an Ian Oliver ball into the box.
Just before the half time whistle either side had a good chance of opening the scoring. Eastleigh’s best move in the game involving Liam Green, and Phil Cousins who helped the ball on nicely with a clever flick into the path of Liam George. The former Luton forward hit a snapshot just inside the area that was held by Aldershot stopper Louis Wells.
At the other end, a well worked move across the front led to Mark Wardell firing a good first time header narrowly over the cross bar following Mark Pritchard’s cross.
HALF TIME – Eastleigh 0-0 Aldershot Town
With nothing between the sides from the first forty-five minutes, the second half looked to be heading the same way.
Early on Ben Bosley fired a shot goalwards only to be denied by a good block, and then shortly after Darren Wheeler and Ian Oliver worked an opening for the Winchester City loanee Phil Cousins whose low drive skidded past the post.
It was the visitors who took the lead with what was the only goal of the game in the 56th minute. Failing to clear the ball, KIRK HUDSON pounced on the defensive error from Eastleigh with a strike that couldn’t be kept out despite James Pullen getting a hand to it.
This proved to be the decider and there was little by way of goalscoring opportunities thereafter, with Aldershot, having taken the lead, edging the game looking good going forwards.
Eastleigh’s efforts cannot be faulted however, and almost straight from the restart, Liam George produced a fine save out of Wells who tipped the effort behind for a corner.
A double substitution saw Liam Winzar and Adam Roberts come into the action to replace Liam Green and Darren Wheeler, to give Jason Dodd the chance to put his eye over some of the youngsters at the club.
In the 76th minute Ben Bosley limped off for Eastleigh and was replaced by Brett Williams.
The match remained quiet once more, just as it had done in the first half and then all of a sudden a couple of chances came in the dieing moments of the game. The three substitutes, Roberts, Winzar and Williams were all involved in a good move but there was to be no end product.
If there was a chance to nick an equaliser, it came in the 89th minute falling to Adam Roberts. The same combination crafted the opportunity with Williams nicking the ball in a good position to knock it out wide for Winzar. The young right sided player curled an excellent ball into the centre to pick out Roberts, back from Andover for the night, but it was a scuffed effort with the outside of the boot that flew wide of goal.
With time running out, Rob Marshall was pushed up front. A long ball forward from Cousins was met by a speculative bicycle kick from the centre half but in the end it was an easy pick up for the keeper.
All in all, it was a good run out for the youngsters and those coming back from injury if nothing else. It is the game at Welling on Saturday that will count, hopefully the consecutive run of league wins will continue!
FULL TIME – Eastleigh 0-1 Aldershot Town
JAMIE MONTIGUE
Comments
Post a Comment