CARTERTON FC 3-3 FAIRFORD TOWN: match report by THE MOWDOG...

Fairford Forfeit A Pair of Points At Carterton

Carterton FC 3-3 Fairford Town

Chill-time...

I knocked upon the officials’ door and managed to secure a copy of the starting line-ups for this bitterly fought game at Kilkenny Lane. The referee was a teacher, I gathered, who trained at Reading’s Bulmershe College, as I had. This reminded me of playing rugby for the college at RAF Brize Norton nearby in 1972 and the military chaps, beaten 30-0 on the day, beat up on several of our players during the match. I was at fly-half but the scrum-half was the college’s DJ, wore his hair too long and it was held in place by a band, which was dragged down across his throat in one loose maul. I dragged him out, choking and had to play scrum-half for the final half-hour. Joy. This soccer game, postponed from Saturday because of a ‘Rave’ (in Oxfordshire?) included a penalty, many cautions and two dismissals, yet the match, although hard-fought, was never really dirty. Carterton impressed at times with their passing, whilst Fairford’s more direct game troubled the hosts’ defence, with new Town striker Lewis Petrie causing surprising problems and netting twice. A late Dan Bishop strike, courtesy of lax Fairford defending, was probably deserved, for their occasional flurry of accurate passing attempted. Supporters bemoaned the time wasted by the referee’s regular chats to naughty pupils: “Come on, ref, I wanna get ‘ome tonight…” I felt that his difficulties had stemmed from a foul on Petrie during the opening half, which might just have been a dismissal-offence, but soccer is a game of opinions and I, thankfully, wasn’t officiating…

The cold-coin toss...

Upon entering the field, the home skipper bellowed one of the current popular gee-up phrases; not quite “Come on chaps!” but “Come on boys, start well, yeah?” And start well Carterton did, with some fairly slick offensive play, scoring early, when a right-side free-kick was headed on by a defender, then slapped back across goal by feisty winger Reece Bayliss and knocked into goal at the far stick by the poaching Adam Bowerman from 8 yards. Visiting skipper Martin Stratford drove too high from the first of several left-side sorties by the positive Steve Hall, then Hall decided to shoot from an angle, following another run but Ben Anderson was waiting in vain in the penalty-box. The clever feet of Bayliss engineered a shooting position at inside-right but his left-boot curler passed the goal-frame then Bayliss combined smartly with Bishop but the move broke down. Another Hall cross from the left looked perfect for Anderson at 15 yards but he somehow skewed the ball with the outside of his right-foot instead, an effort which rolled to the ‘keeper like a crown-green bowling ball.

The ref joins the defensive wall...

Anderson did feed Petrie centrally soon afterwards though and the striker was about to enter the penalty-area for a one-on-one with home goalie Harry Ellis, when home defender Jason Smith felled him from behind. The video evidence points to no other covering defender being nearby but Smith was merely cautioned. Stratford fired the free-kick into a defensive wall. Home striker Hodala Elharram, (surely a Zlatan Ibrahimovic lookalike?) used his strength to get in a low shot, which was deflected to Town goalie Joe Snell, along with Petrie, sporting a famous surname. (Peter Snell was of course a superb New Zealand middle distance runner and Flinders Petrie collected Egyptian antiquities, which now crowd his brilliant museum in London.) A left-flank corner by the hosts was cleared but after a moment’s chaos, the ball rolled into the path of goalscorer Bowerman, surprisingly onside, who pulled a 12 yard shot past the left upright with only Snell to beat.

Aaron Dale, I think, of Fairford was booked for a lunge and thus a foul, but Bowerman’s neat near post header from the ensuing free-kick was dealt with by Snell. An error in the home defence, which failed to clear its lines, led to Ryan Latham’s nod forward and run to the left byeline for Town but Ellis could only push Latham’s low delivery from the byeline onto the grateful Petrie’s boot and parity had been restored. The assistant in front of me awarded a throw to Carterton, which was obviously an error and indirectly and oddly, the result was to be a second goal for Fairford. The throw should have been Fairford’s but Petrie shrugged off a defender on the right, another Carterton player left visiting forward Stuart Fraser ‘home alone’ and when Petrie’s pass found him, Fraser stroked another simple finish into the home net and the tables had been turned.

Snell collected a deflected right-wing cross from the hosts, a shot by Bishop was blocked but it was Fairford who almost increased their lead, when Petrie picked up possession and clipped a fine 28 yarder against the Carterton crossbar, with Ellis watching like an American Apache helicopter was hovering above him. The interval arrived, I unscrewed my coffee flask and tried to remember what it was like to feel my fingers. It had seemed that Town had grown into the game, without really looking particularly creative, but more ‘effective’, with Hall, skipper Stratford and Petrie prominent. Carterton had often looked fine going forward, bar the final delivery, with skipper Alan Rogers, beard stiffening in the frosty air, overlapping at will. Midfielders Ben Tew, Andy Styles and Bowerman were all noticeable, although Bayliss wasn’t enjoying the best of fortune. They had looked vulnerable at the back, however, proved by the two goals conceded so softly.

After the break, Rogers fed Bayliss for a shot, which cleared the left angle of bar and upright but soon the hosts had equalised, when a poor clearance by Fairford allowed Bayliss a low shot from 19 yards, which Snell fell for but could only push aside, where Bowerman was sniping and the diminutive midfielder shot home from a narrow angle wide of the left post. Almost immediately however, Fairford got away on the left, which included a smart ‘rabona’ by tall central defender Aaron Dainton, then Hall’s cross struck an arm and from the resulting penalty, Petrie drove the ball into the bottom left corner of the net. 

I believe the referee cautioned home playmaker Tew in the ensuing chaotic cacophony of complaining and again there were delays and the spectators shivered. A Tew shot was deflected for a corner to Carterton but when the flag-kick fell onto defender Craig McKay’s boot, his 8 yard effort flew past the left post, much to his anguish. The official’s dark kit was tough to distinguish at times from the Carterton players’ wardrobe, something which always happens when Coalville Town play at home too but concentrating on the regular ‘tellings off’ was hard on such a chilly evening. Petrie threatened a couple of times for Town and shot low at Ellis, before Bayliss was cautioned but also shot a free-kick for the hosts, which took a couple of deflections, forcing Snell to hurriedly drop like a gannet onto a herring and push the ball away. And then things turned rather sour.

Martin Hall trudges off near the right upright in the distance...

A right-wing cross by Fairford appeared to have been cleared by Carterton but the referee awarded an indirect free-kick from 19 yards to the guests, taking a long time to dismiss Smith for some offence which remains a mystery to cold watchers in dim light, such as myself. Stratford passed to Fraser, whose shot was blocked and Latham’s follow-up effort flew wide of the left stick. Brad Bryant replaced the energetic but unfortunate Elharram, before Bowerman won possession with a sliding tackle but Bryant drove a shot too high, as did Styles soon afterwards. Fairford battled offensively too though, attempting to exploit what they must have sensed was a weakness in the Carterton armoury and Latham shot wide, then a low Hall centre skidded across the goalmouth, with nobody on hand to side-foot another easy finish. I think Rogers was cautioned but it was tough to work out what was happening in the referee’s “Can I have a word?” breaks. Latham was booked for Town, certainly, then so was Hall, for flicking the ball over the touchline breeze-blocks to prevent home defender Sam Farr from taking a quick throw-in.

Good Carterton passing led to decent strike by Bayliss, who had just been standing agog, frowning in consternation when the official called his skipper over to announce that the number 11 was close to a second yellow card, but the effort from 25 yards was wide of the right upright. Snell dropped a centre over his own head and only just managed to turn and plunge towards goal onto the loose ball, reminiscent of a shoebill stork crashing down on an unsuspecting lungfish. Fairford's replacement, Martin Hall, who gave Fraser a break, experienced a tough short while on the pitch; first he headed a great chance metres wide of the near post from a right-side centre, then made a reckless challenge in the home penalty-box, which gave us another 2 minute time-out, rather like in a Chicago Bulls basketball game. The referee interviewed Hall, who incredulously looked at two encroaching Carterton players and yelled twice: “Go away…”. The pair, Bowman and Farr, were cautioned immediately by the desperate official before Martin Hall was shown a red card and off he trooped. Remarkable stuff…

Steve Hall then flicked out a boot at an opponent, right in front of an assistant, also me, but despite the desperate pleas of Carterton’s distraught players, the linesman apparently saw nothing. It’s what they do… Carterton though, saved the game late on when Farr’s right-side cross was badly miscued by a Fairford defender, allowing Bishop to become a veritable worshipped Pope after smashing the loose ball past Snell from close range. The end.

Nobody who mattered saw a kick...

Maybe the result was just, maybe biased witnesses would not agree, maybe we were all simply too cold and as the man said: “Come on ref, I wanna get ‘ome tonight…”

Took me an hour and a quarter to reach Solihull, but the hot mince pie and bowl of Weetabix were most welcome… 

Teams:

Carterton:  Harry Ellis, Sam Farr, Alan Rogers (Capt); Ben Tew, Jason Smith, Craig McKay; Adam Bowerman, Andy Styles, Hodafa Elharram, Dan Bishop, Reece Bayliss.

Subs: Tom Glass, Ant Hillman, Brad Bryant, Aaron Whitham.

Fairford Town:  Joe Snell, Luke Cordery, Aaron Dale; Aaron Dainton, Ben Hillerby, Steve Hall; Martin Stratford (Capt), Ryan Latham, Lewis Petrie, Stuart Fraser, Ben Anderson.

Subs: Andy Roper, Martin Hall, Gareth Davies, Jack Bright.