DROITWICH SPA 2-0 SOUTHAM UNITED: light-hearted report by THE MOWDOG...

Bookend Goals Squeeze the Life Out of Southam…

Droitwich Spa FC 2-0 Southam United

Yeah, OK, I get that Droitwich is a Spa town but it was strange that when their players ended their warm-up in pouring rain and they retired to dry off, the rain stopped. I walked across to the pitch and the weather was still dry, until I turned to see the Spa players emerging from the changing-rooms, at which point it began to rain again. Odd, very odd, but this was NOT Droitwich… This was however the Worcester Sports Academy, so no onsite parking, leaving visitors to abandon cars on the pavements of a road opposite, thus not strictly parking ‘on yellow lines’… I really liked the fact that the ‘technical areas’ were marked out by cones, one of which was booted by Southam’s Quentin Townsend during the opening half. The game began with a goal and ended with another, both for Droitwich; a match between bookends, leaving a misfiring Southam outfit ruing a couple of missed chances, although in fairness, the ‘hosts’ finished quite strongly. Spa were well served by defender Mike Seeley, who always impresses when I see him and winger Hayden Morris looked fleet of foot. It was interesting to see Chris Conway in Saints yellow and not in Bromsgrove red and blue but he didn’t seem to recognise The Mowdog when I spoke to him… United’s right-back Jack Brighton was always prominent and one could not fault either central striker on view for effort: Southam’s Kyle Turner and Spa’s James Lemon. The game began with almost a carbon copy of the first goal I saw at Coventry United yesterday, when a defensive number 5 attempted to head the ball back to a goalkeeper straying from goal like a kid bunking off school.

Ready to run about a bit before the rain pours...

Matt Hunt’s header, from a hump forward by Spa’s Joe Mayo, was meant for his ‘keeper but as the purple-clad Will Freeman attempted to turn and scoop up the ball, it was taken from him like he’d been beaten to the last hot dog at a barbecue. Droitwich’s lurking and knowing Lemon tapped the ball into the gaping goal and soured Freeman’s day. 1-0 and although Southam pushed forward regularly, using a couple of switching long passes by Stefan Grudzinski and an all-action performance by midfielder Max Crisp, Conway and Turner were not afforded much good service on offense. In fact it was Hunt who nearly scored from a pair of corners, hacking one shot too high then powering a clear header a foot over the crossbar, following a great delivery by Brighton. Later, Hunt would fall heavily on his back near a touchline but he got up and didn’t even grimace. I liked that… Spa had only managed a free-kick by Mr Angry, Jimmy Ward, which a worried Freeman had fumbled somewhat, but soon Brighton was again testing the home goalie Matt Oliver from a 30 yard free-kick. The effort was tipped onto and over the crossbar for a good save.

James Lemon, left, has capitalised: 1-0...

Strong defending by Spa prevented a shot coming from Conway and Turner could only stab a 15 yarder past the right upright, before Brighton ran well and shot a 25 yard effort wide of the opposite post. Conway also sliced a driven effort well wide from distance. The closest Saints came to scoring up to the break though was when willing forward Suki Nijjar touched a Turner pass from the left byeline at the near post, but Oliver somehow trapped the ball between his flailing legs, like he was struggling on a Twister cloth. Opportunities though came rarely, for much of the play was untidy and careless but after Droitwich made late inroads in the half, a Lemon shot was easily saved and Ward was fouled in midfield by Crisp, which led to a bellowing and a blustering, whereupon the referee told Ward to leave the field, not so much for attention but to cool off. He was near me, in a state of abject temper and the Spa physio’ did a great job calming him down, whilst probably fearing for his own safety too… I waited until Jimmy was safely lying down before snapping an image… 16 replaced Ward and the half ended, with people’s umbrellas getting a right soaking, as I attempted to carry on filming, regardless. It’s what I do…

OMG... It's Chris Conway, right...

Looks like Mary Poppins has dropped in. Her brolly is there but where is she?
Spot the Poppins...

Jimmy Angry in the rehabilitation Ward... 

Oliver collected a shot by Southam’s Nijjar but then Morris danced into the United penalty-area with great feet, only to snatch a curled effort past the right stick from 8 yards. Conway came alive for the visitors with a low free-kick, which was too easy for Oliver, then after hard work by Turner, Conway struck a low centre across the face of goal from the right. Soon afterwards, with Conway hacked down, Crisp tried to shoot but fine blocking by Spa allowed Oliver to pick the loose ball up and despite Southam’s need for an equaliser, less assuredness crept into the Saints defence and this led to a block by Townsend on Nick Seabourne’s cross, then Lemon’s fruity strike being deflected. Another Lemon effort was deflected away too, before Macca Finch was beaten to the ball by the advancing Freeman. Lemon took a rest but soon, Freeman had to spring forth to prevent a fine cross by Morris from reaching Seabourne for an easy header.

Spa break...

Saintly interval...

Turner and Conway foraged an opening for themselves though and Oliver was quickly down to stop Turner’s low shot, yet Spa’s 15 ought to have sewn up a home victory when one-on-one with Freeman, from Morris’ pass but hesitation gave the ‘keeper the edge. Another Morris feed saw Ward’s low shot saved too. Finch was unable to get a lobbed shot in at inside-right but the killer blow came from a fine deep delivery by Seeley, which Seabourne, airborne, nodded onto the crossbar from 8 yards but he was quickly able to recover and take a knock, as he rose again to head the ball into the left side of goal. 2-0, game over and it was left to Jimmy Angry (who else?) to control a right-side pass and hook a decent effort wide of the right post, as the game came to a close.

Nick Seaborne went airborne to score but his goal celebration was an imitation of Julius Caesar being knifed by Brutus...
Cool, Nick. Cool.

Southam's 'keeper, dressed as a grape, has been beaten but still struts a mean boogie...

For Southam, Mike Harvey was a presence in defence and midfield, the left-back Johnny Burns was lively but the splendidly named Yaya Diallo was effective only in patches. Spa were well served as I mentioned above, by Seeley and Morris but Lemon was always a handful, Jasper Alford speedy, Seabourne ran the right-flank strongly as a substitute and Oliver was reliable between the poles.

The rain had abated, the day warmed up and I extend great thanks to James Lemon for Tweeting his colleagues’ names to me this afternoon and also to Quentin Townsend for texting me the Southam identities, via absent Chairman Charles Hill… 

Teams:

Droitwich Spa:  Matt Oliver, Joe Mayo, Adam Granger; Mike Seeley, Mark Burrows, Elliot Brown; Jasper Alford, Jimmy Ward, James Lemon, Macca Finch, Hayden Morris.

Nick Seabourne was a replacement, amongst others!

Southam Unted: Will Freeman, Jack Brighton, Johnny Burns; Mike Harvey, Matty Hunt, Max Crisp; Suki Nijjar, Yaya Diallo, Kyle Turner, Chris Conway, Stefan Grudzinski, plus Quentin Townsend.