ELLESMERE RANGERS 2 WEDNESFIELD FC 3: MATCH REPORT BY THE MOWDOG...

Meresiders Beaten In Pre-Froch Warm-Up Fight

Ellesmere Rangers 2 Wednesfield FC 3

(West Midlands League, Premier Division Cup Final)

Torrington, in Meera Syal’s novel ‘Anita and Me’ was based on early 1970s Essington, but I went there to watch a cup final between Wednesfield and Ellesmere on this last day of May. Oliver Ingham, a ‘commander’, once hailed from Ellesmere and in the 13^th century his daughter married the son of Lord Strange of Knockin, named Robert. Can you imagine the Lord’s wife’s rebuff when he felt amorous? “I hear you, Knockin but you can’t come in…” The top of the original motte of the castle in Ellesmere is now a bowling green and I bet some of the Ellesmere players wished they’d stayed home bowling after the way this game panned out. Wednesfield, once ‘Woden’s Field’, is famous for making locks, but also traps, from mousetraps to mantraps; I have mousetraps, rat-traps and a badger-trap at home, only as collectibles, I hastily add, but Ellesmere were certainly shackled by ‘Field skipper Daniel Carter, whose anger changed this match. A Wednesfield official told me he would be out drinking whatever the outcome of the game and would be, er, “Paraplegic…” Legless, I reckon, then…

The names of the players correspond to the numbers on the official team-sheets, which I photographed. I apologise for any errors which may have occurred by club officials! The following report is a light-hearted reflection of what went on at Long Lane…

An early sortie on the Ellesmere right ended with the ball in the side-netting, then Mike O’Reilly sliced a 35 yarder way off target, as the Shropshire men began brightly, with skipper Steve O’Reilly prominent. The stout and speedy Ben Sanderson, a bully of a striker, in the nicest sense of course, did well on the right and fed the eager Steve Dougliss inside but the Ellesmere defence blocked the midfielder’s shot from 19 yards. Sanderson continued putting his weight about, like a pillaging Viking and left Meresiders Josh Parker, who was impressive, and James O’Reilly floored on a few occasions. A Steve O’Reilly 25 yarder bounced several times before Wednesfield’s ‘keeper Sam Arnold collected it but the shooter was finding a lot of space in midfield, which Wednesfield needed to address. Another Steve O’Reilly shot deflected off Carter’s lunge and Arnold was forced to scramble across his goal-line as the ball rolled towards the left corner of the net but he clutched it.

Quick, neat passing by Ellesmere resulted in a left-booted shot from 20 yards by Josh Brown, which was powerful but passed the right post by two yards, knee-high. Yet another Steve O’Reilly drive from 25 yards forced Arnold across his goal to save by his left post and then, finally, Wednesfield threatened. A right-wing corner by Wayne Price was headed down towards the left post by the solid Carter but as Sanderson lurked, the ball bounced off defender George Carpenter and as Dougliss pounced, only a brilliant challenge in front of goal by Ellesmere’s Jack Griffiths saved the situation, stunningly. The ball flew back left to Carter, who lobbed a cross towards his defensive partner Rich Golding, whose glanced header was hammered first-time by Price, low from 10 yards but goalie Lee Davis held onto the ball well.

Ellesmere though, took a quick free-kick from inside-left and Mike O’Reilly passed to the wily Marco Adaggio, who ran behind the defence but the move eventually led to a pass across goal from the striker to Josh Parker and the Ellesmere defender turned and shot low but fairly softly towards the left upright; Arnold appeared to be put off by a defender’s lunge and he was slow to fall right, so that the ball squirmed horribly away from him and inside the vertical pole.

Ellesmere go ahead...

‘Field responded and Carter was the threat again, aerially, heading down a long free-kick, which Davis somehow blocked but as Price challenged for the loose ball, he was flagged offside. At this point, some lads appeared on my right and yelled at the Ellesmere goalie: “Shut up, you shell-head…” Odd that, because he seemed a good egg to me… Sanderson, less effective as the half wore on, bought a foul but Price’s free-kick from 25 yards was comfortably dealt with by Davis, falling right but then, from another set-piece, the ominous threat of Golding’s height reared its head and he nodded a deep free-kick downwards, only for Davis to react well to keep the ball out with his right boot and a superb tackle by skipper Steve O’Reilly on the hovering Tom Essex, who had been influential for Wednesfield, preserved the Meresiders’ lead. Scott Embery, who liked to stroke the ball about for ‘Field, although some of his work didn’t quite come off on the day, did manage a shot from 23 yards but he knew how poor it was himself, by his angry reaction.

The brief spell of Wednesfield attacking ended with a curled 23 yard effort by Dougliss but Davis took the head-high shot falling left and the interval beckoned, during which I trod the boggy area behind one goal and took my place to the left of the dugouts. The sun appeared for a while too, as the people standing behind the internment fencing drank yet another pint of camp beer each but we were all not prepared for such an interesting second period.

An early Wednesfield corner led to chaos but Sanderson and others failed to get in shots, as Ellesmere fought hard to remain ahead. Essex, always battling, won the ball from Sean Griffiths in midfield, a rare error by the Ellesmere man but Wednesfield also gave the ball away and Adaggio broke to attack on the left for ‘Mere, only to lift an angled centre behind the goal-frame. Martin Stanton was replaced by Ash Evans for Wednesfield, the over-zealous Dougliss was unsurprisingly cautioned for one foul too many and Ellesmere’s Ryan was replaced by Dave Howarth. Adaggio drove a 20 yard free-kick straight at the Wednesfield defensive wall, then a fine break by Steve O’Reilly led to a pass by Howarth and a low shot from the right of the penalty-box by Josh Brown, which caused Arnold a problem at his near post, who only just managed to fumble the ball behind for a corner.

The two substitutions which would prove crucial for ‘Field happened within moments of each other: Ricky Nicholls and Sam Giles replaced Bobby Glencorse and Essex and suddenly, the game was tied. A right-wing corner was won in the air by the lofty Golding, whose downward header fell almost at Giles' feet at the left post and he hacked it up under the angle of bar and left post for a dramatic equaliser. A strong Steve O’Reilly run and break faded to nothing for Ellesmere, Arnold beat out an angled effort by Howarth from the left and at the opposite end, from a right-wing corner by Price, Steve O’Reilly’s clearing header bounced off Brown for Golding and his low 18 yard effort was nudged past the left upright by the falling Davis.

'Field have equalised...

Incredibly, with ‘Field’s aerial dominance looking likely to prove fatal for Ellesmere, Adaggio broke clear onto a long booted pass, remained onside and as Arnold advanced, broke past the ‘keeper’s challenge, veered right and tucked home the loose ball from an angle, as Kieron Payne struggled to get back. And then the trouble started. The henbane seeds had worked their magic, as in Viking times and the wild fighters soon felt like they were flying…

2-1 to Ellesmere...

Mike O’Reilly had been getting advice from the sideline that he should go off the field, for he was injured but I heard the player reply that this was a cup final and he wanted to play his part. After the goal however, he went down near the half-way line, which incensed Carter, who surely didn’t realise that the Ellesmere man was indeed carrying an injury. The burly ‘Field skipper stood over the prone Meresider threateningly, causing a free-for-all, in which several peacemakers were abused physically and Carter was certainly an aggressor. Players were like the beserkers, Vikings who were so mad, they bit their own shields and filed the middles of their upper teeth, as a ‘thing’. The scrappers were ‘changing combat clothes’, meaning fighting, intending to ‘feed the eagle’, or leave the dead on the field of battle and I’m sure I saw Thorkill the Tall (Golding) and Eric Bloodaxe (Steve O’Reilly) wrestling players away to safety. Tom Essex, although substituted, was surely the Viking King Svein Forkbeard, with his hairy chin but one un-named substituted player assured me that Mike O’Reilly was ‘brain dead’, which was interesting.

As the skirmishing eased on the pitch, more scuffling broke out on the touchline near the dugouts then a woman ducked under the surrounding barrier and made her way to the scrum, being hauled back by someone who might have been her daughter; the girl dragged at the older woman’s jacket but she shrugged it off and piled into the melee, although what part she played, I have no idea. Two older men were made to leave the field however, by the referee, as tempers became as frayed as a political rally in downtown Cairo. Mike O’Reilly, whose deliveries from set-pieces had been inconsistent throughout the game, was sensibly replaced by Dave Easthope, probably to protect him from more pillaging by the opponents and the game started again, after Carter was cautioned. This punishment was hilarious, after the violence which had occurred, for Dougliss had been booked for a mere tackle, I recall…

Incredibly, with Carter now a striker for the trailing ‘Field, Ellesmere could have settled the game when Adaggio again broke, this time at inside-left, but after dispossessing Golding just 10 yards out, he fired his shot at the advancing Arnold, who parried well. Then from a short Ellesmere corner on the right, Howarth received a pass at an angle on the right but shot into the side-netting but then, suddenly, the impetus was with the desperate Wednesfield band again for one last offensive push. Payne knocked the ball across the penalty-box from the right and there was Giles again, capitalising with a low shot into the right corner of the net from 7 yards, with Easthope unable to prevent the shot. Carter slunk back into defence, preparing for extra-time… 

2-2 and Wednesfield sense a victory...

Then, in added time, Dougliss’ cross was cleared poorly by George Carpenter, straight to Nicholls and the replacement pounced, as Carpenter ran to close him down, but Nicholls dummied past James O’Reilly and fired a low left-footer into the bottom right corner of the net, signalling crazy celebrations, with the ‘Field manager prancing onto the pitch like a pantomime horse with its back-end missing, or maybe like a Bambi in a Babycham advert. I had passed a ball to Nicholls in the warm-up and suggested in jest that he ran onto it and curled a cross-shot into the top corner; he replied that he couldn’t reach the goal from there. When I reminded him of it after the game, he said: “That’s why I was in the box when I scored..!” Nice one. It doesn’t get more dramatic than that and the game ended with Ellesmere in total distress. Fair play to both sets of players for they applauded each other in the presentation section of the afternoon and guess who raised the cup? Yes, Daniel Carter, the serpent Mitgard, who encircled the Viking world… His inner self, his Hugr, had vanquished his outer persona, his Hamr and all was well in the Viking world of Woden’s Field…

The goalscorer is grass-surfin'...

...and Wednesfield have netted the winner...

Ellesmere? Man-trapped. The NORNS had conspired against them, those women who controlled the past (hopes of glory), the present (a terrible defeat) and the future (drunken misery) but maybe they too would leave Long Lane with long faces, a long trip home and a long booze to paraplegia… Vikings would bend or curl dead warriors’ swords, so maybe Ellesmere’s players bent their boots after this defeat… It’s what you do…

Teams, as far as I understood:

Ellesmere:  Lee Davis, George Carpenter, Jack Griffiths; Josh Parker, James O’Reilly, Sean Griffiths; Mike O’Reilly, Steve O’Reilly (Capt), Marco Adaggio, Scott Ryan, Josh Brown.

Subs: Dave Howarth, Dave Easthope, Alex Hall, George Durrell, Jay Stoker.

Wednesfield:  Sam Arnold, Martin Stanton, Bobby Glencorse; Kieron Payne, Daniel Carter (Capt), Rich Golding; Scott Embery, Tom Essex, Ben Sanderson, Wayne Price, Steve Dougliss.

Subs: Ash Evans, Ricky Nicholls, Callum Wood, Sam Giles, Brad Lewis.

...and the celebrations: