Match Report

Goals scored
Dan Sherry (1), Richard Martin (1)

Man of the match
Dean Weaving

Team
Stuart Medcraft, Dean Weaving, Chris Vicelli, Paul Munyard, John Wilson, Robert Marling, Richard Martin, Gavin Mayo, Graham Rix, Dan Sherry, Martin Burton.

Subs
Lee Smith, Nick Wallace, John Orme.

For the third week in a row Landsdowne faced the same opposition; Bromfords Reunion. With a 1-0 victory apiece today’s game was the decider in the three game series. Landsdowne had a few players missing but also a few players back from last weeks defeat. The away team were definitely still confident off a win.

It was a really poor start from Landsdowne, not enough battling and not enough work rate. Bromfords seemed to want it more and were the dominate side for the first 25 minutes. They got a deserved goal; once again from a trademark throw in, flick on and then header to finish. This could have been the start to a very bad day for Landsdowne however it acted as a wake up call. The away team upped their work ethic and were beginning to create a few chances. Bromfords were still looking dangerous from set pieces and it could have been 2-0 but for a fantastic instinctive stop from Stuart Medcraft; Goalkeeper, Left back of striker….. who knows??

Landsdowne continued to battle and were rewarded just before half time. Rich Martin who had switched to right back played a great ball over the top of the Bromford’s defence into the path of Dan Sherry. A great first touch was followed by an even better finish; the ball lobbing the keeper and into the net to make the score 1-1.

At half time it was a tired Landsdowne leaving the field; this showed they had worked hard but got their reward by being level at the break. They needed to start strong in the second halve as they could not afford to give Bromfords another 25 minutes of dominant football. Both teams started well and had a few chances each but the defences for both sides were working very hard. For about 20 minutes they seemed to be cancelling each other out however Bromfords were still dominating everything in the air; another long throw, another flick on and another header at the back post made the score 2-1.

Landsdowne needed to respond well however some poor marking allowed Bromfords to have about three chances in a row, successfully scoring the last effort to make the score 3-1. It seemed all over now however the ref was about to have 10 minutes of madness that could change the game.

The away side had not given up and continued to go forward searching for a goal, any goal would do. Gavin Mayo lined up a free kick and with brilliant execution curled the ball over the wall only for the ball to strike the bar, the ball fell to Richard Martin who tried to direct the ball at goal; this created a goal mouth scramble as Landsdowne tried to force the ball over the line. The Bromfords keeper got his hands to the ball however chants of ‘over the line’ bellowed towards the ref. The ball may have gone over; however there was no way the ref could have seen it! DEEP IN HIS HEART OF HEARTS, HE MUST HAVE KNOWN IT NOT TO BE TRUE! But he gave the goal???? Oh well 3-2… game on! Still not sure how Rich managed to successfully claim it??

Then moments later the ref strikes again. With the Bromfords striker closing down on the goal, Dean Weaving makes a brilliant last gasp tackle. The ball was clearly played but the ref awards a penalty?? Clearly with the last decision still in mind the ref decided to even the tables. Bromfords are successful with the penalty and make the score 4-2. The referee had changed the game with a shocking decision.

Final words from manager Graham Rix: Although the result wasn’t there, everyone put everything into the game, and i felt there height overall was the only difference in the game. They have scored 5 goals against us in 3 games, 1 being a questionable pen, 3 headers that were simply out jumped through our height, and 1 shot where there striker had a little to much time at the back post. So there is a lot more positives than negatives to take out of the past 3 weeks. - Everyone is now working and fighting for the cause, and with the season now reaching the climax, i still feel a 2nd place finish is more than achievable! Reecon still have some tough games on the horizon, and if we apply the work rate and commitment from everyone that has been showing of recent games, there is no reason why we can’t walk away with runners up medals again this term!

NOT FORGETTING - On Sunday we played with questionably 5 or 6 of the possible starting 11 not available for selection, it does show that we have quality around the whole squad in which to run Bromfords close to the last minutes of each of the games we have played them and credit to the players coming in to do that! Landsdowne Rangers have never been in a position to have that many players not available and still field a more than comfortable team! With also strength on the bench too! Well done lads, keep up the fight! I’m sure we will have a happy end to the season.