LYE TOWN 0-3 BROCTON FC: light-hearted match report by THE MOWDOG...

Lye Cleaned Out By Brocton On Fat Tuesday…

Lye Town 0-3 Brocton FC

It was Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday and Lye must surely have sinned against the other teams in their division for Brocton shrove them, tossed them like pancakes and escaped from Stourbridge Road with a well deserved victory. Feeding on three goals, the visitors were resolute in defence, they were directed well by Dave Berks in midfield and led on offense by the rumbustious Sam Bell, who lobbed a couple of neat goals. In-form home forward Ricky Anslow was starved of decent support on the night and failed to hit the target with two decent chances and James Spray was given little room in which to work his ability behind Chris Russell and the aforementioned Anslow. The pitch wasn’t conducive to fast, flowing football but the Badgers began resolutely, led at the break, plundered two more goals when the Flyers were blundering forward to save the game and in the end, Brocton must have wondered at the ease of their victory. Fine defending by Badgers Matt Dockerty in particular and the sturdy Roger Tomlinson reduced Lye to scraps and only a beating out of a James Spray free-kick and a deflection of an angled effort by Anslow seriously worried Badger goalie Calum Barrett all evening. So, Ash Wednesday would arrive with Lye’s fine run in ashes, Brocton had exacted a penance for being successful and when I chatted with Flyers Matt Johnson and Damien Stevens at the end of the match, their faces were as sour as Pancake Day lemon juice.

The Badgers prepare to kick off...

A bright Badger opening led to a low cross-shot by the bustling Bell and Stevens reacted well to dive right and push the ball clear, with Lye under some pressure for moments afterwards. Sam Mills, who battled manfully against Bell all night, did well to defend him on another occasion and with Town looking rather like frightened badgers themselves, staring at the Cull, only a foul on Simon Williams gave them a breather. Spray drove the resulting free-kick straight into Barrett’s arms however and Berks began to influence the affair more. Anslow made a strong run on the right though but was unable to fire in a telling centre from the byeline, then Badger Jack Edwards nearly put skipper Carl Morris clear but struck a too-heavy pass, before Bell soon made ground on the left but when he squared a feed to the tall Gary Fife, not for the last time, the winger stumbled over the ball, like it was grabbing at his mud-clogged boot. Then, all of a sudden, with home skipper Ben Jevons and the foraging Scott ‘Doggy’ Gennard becoming more effective in the Lye trenches, Williams’ pass freed Anslow for a run at inside-left but he was fouled. Spray took the 19 yard free-kick but this time his drive was beaten away by Barrett, as if he was trialling as an offensive-tackle for the Badgers of the University of Wisconsin…

Damien Stevens cleverly balances a pole on his head...

Brocton would survive that attack and quickly move forward for Bell to show great presence of mind at the edge of a crowded 18 yard box to lift a lob over the stranded Stevens and into the Lye net for a stunning opening goal. Soon afterwards, Fife, perhaps lacking his musket and drum, miscued this time at the edge of the penalty-area, when fed by the incisive Berks, before Gennard finally mounted more Town offense, winning a corner on the right. This was the first of three consecutive flag-kicks, none of which caused Barrett more than a polite yawn but Gennard did shoot from 20 yards, inside-left, only to watch his effort fly harmlessly past the goal-frame towards the dressing-rooms.

Brocton lead 0-1...

Strangely, with Brocton actually looking fairly comfortable, Russell benefited from a flick but he lifted a cross-shot from the left beyond the goal-frame and as Lye still looked slightly more positive, another Gennard shot, from the right this time, also rose way too high and wide. Anslow would then hang his head in his hands in anguish, like he’d dropped the last of his pancake-mix, when a decent run on the left by Russell led to a defender slicing his cross to Anslow at the right upright but somehow it seemed that Barrett deflected the shot across the goal-area and the referee whistled for a push by a Flyer as the rebound was contested. Spray then played a great pass through inside-right for the speedy Anslow to fight for and he caught out the defence, but with only the advancing Barrett to beat, the striker’s rising effort drifted past the left angle of bar and post. Fine defending by Mills on Bell led to a clumsy foul by the chasing striker but he received only a warning from the official, who soon signalled the half-time break.

The Thrifty Shed of Grey...

People huddle in the grandstand so they don't have to watch Chelsea on TV...

It was difficult to imagine where a Lye goal would come from, unless Anslow could again be freed to run at goal, especially as Spray was being closely marked but fine defending by Tomlinson on Anslow in the opening moments of the second period robbed the Lye man of a shot and indeed, he was penalised for holding. A brilliant block by Dockerty prevented Russell’s fine delivery from the left causing problems for the Badgers and then Brocton replaced Fife with Dan Lomas. Fife strolled so slowly off the pitch that I thought he had actually dozed off a couple of times, but who can blame him, with his team a goal ahead against the league’s top team? Quite suddenly however, the ball was released towards the inside-right position by a Badger and Bell fought with Mills for possession. Bell won, knocked the ball slightly upwards and forwards and was alert enough to again lift the ball over the helpless, advancing Stevens, a shot which bounced apologetically into the left corner of the net. 0-2 and Lye were left rueing their lapses. 

0-2 to Brocton...

Gennard struck a left-side corner way too hard and high but Williams did manage a shot from 18 yards, which crossed the byeline 20 yards or so wide of the right stick. The home offense was so far off the mark on the night… Lye decided to liven things up with a double-substitution however, relieving Russell and defender Brad Smith and introducing Craig Gregg and Jamie Haynes. Lye, though, conceded a free-kick on their defensive left and Berks took it; the drifting delivery appeared to wrong-foot Stevens, who stood in despair, like his pancake had shrivelled to a burnt lump and the ball appeared to strike the leg of Jevons, perhaps and bounce into the net. 0-3 and the cause was now hopeless for the malfunctioning Flyers.

0-3: and it's game, sett and match to the Badgers...

A low Bell drive was picked up by Stevens, before Ben Harrison, busy in the Badger midfield, clipped Spray and conceded a 27 yard free-kick in a central position, which Spray would hit. The effort struck the left buttock of Berks, I think and Morris freed Bell on the break but after making good ground, the forward’s shot was so high, that the belfry of the local church was endangered. Harrison was replaced, slowly, by Charlie Jones and for Lye, Reece Shilvock replaced the harassed Spray. Certainly Shilvock passed the ball with some accuracy and confidence, which had previously been lacking from some of his colleagues and Johnson’s feed gave the desperate Anslow a shooting chance from 18 yards but again the trajectory was awry, high and wide. Berks was relieved of his duties, almost in slow-motion, being replaced by Paul McMahon and it only remained for a Shilvock left-wing free-kick to be palmed away to his left by Barrett and for Bell to push Jevons over the plastic fencing and onto the cricket outfield. Lye didn’t like that much but Bell had already rung twice for Brocton, so he maybe wanted some bragging rights.

Spray lines up his free-kick and the referee gets tickled under his arms...

Lye’s right-back Dan Jones was evident throughout this contest, despite his distribution going astray at times but so little creativity came from the home players that Brocton must have wondered how their opponents had risen to their lofty league position. Berks, Morris and often Edwards passed the ball better than their lack-lustre hosts and the Badgers would certainly have returned to their setts with some satisfaction after a well planned victory.

I drove home to eat, er, an apple pie, for I had eaten three pancakes at lunch-time… 

It’s what I do…  

Teams: (it was tough to read the names on the Brocton team-sheet and so I used the Midland League’s website to help me. I apologise for any errors below…)

Lye Town:  Damien Stevens, Dan Jones, Matt Johnson; Brad Smith, Sam Mills, Simon Williams; Chris Russell, Scott Gennard, James Spray, Ricky Anslow, Ben Jevons (Capt).

Subs: Reece Shilvock, Craig Gregg, Jamie Haynes, Elliott Davies, George Rogers.

Brocton Badgers:  Calum Barrett, Calum Rudd, Jamie Evans; Matt Dockerty, Roger Tomlinson, Ben Harrison; Jack Edwards, Carl Morris (Capt), Sam Bell, Dave Berks, Gary Fife.

Subs: Dan Lomas, Paul McMahon, David Ablewhite, Charlie Jones.