ARDLEY UNITED 0-5 FLACKWELL HEATH: FULL MATCH REPORT...

9-Man United Ardley In It, As 5-Goal Heathens Flack Them Off…

Ardley United 0-5 Blackwell Heath

The bare bones of this game are telling: Ardley were susceptible on the left side of their defence, which Flackwell Heath exploited. Dan Burnell was too cute in the visitors’ attack for United to contain, with the striker snaffling a hat-trick; Ardley’s forwards barely threatened, only a late replacement worrying Heathen ‘keeper Dan Weait at all; two dismissals for home players, both for the use of hands, hence nine versus eleven for some of the second period and finally, some real indiscipline by the hosts led to their downfall. And that downfall was spectacular. Heathen right-winger Dan Molloy enjoyed the space afforded him, his skipper Ben Sturgess simply watched over the evening like an ARP warden checking blackout windows on a quiet night in Word War Two and ‘keeper Weait couldn’t have spent an easier ninety minutes in a long time. Home replacement Ryan Markham battled manfully though and certainly the Ardley central defenders were more effective during the second period, in which the Flackers netted early and late to go ‘nap’ at the Playing Field. Having lost starter Joel Meade before the game, due to falling through a ceiling at work, I believe, the floor certainly opened up for his United colleagues during the evening…

HAPPY DUGOUT...

The hosts managed virtually no offense at all during a one-sided opening half, strikers Ade Talabi and Elias Katsoloudi notable only for being cautioned, but even when Talabi shoved guest defender Dan Hicks over, his miscued angled ‘shot’ was wayward anyway. The visitors began clinically however and with home skipper Luke Cray (hope he doesn’t have a twin…) badly exposed by diagonal passes from the Heathens, his opponent Molloy relished the running room. Early on, James Tripp (a brilliant name for a defender…) clipped a pass to inside-right, Burnell shoved the ball on for Molloy to latch onto and the winger drove a low, angled shot inside the far post, with home ‘keeper Lee Farrow well beaten. 

GOAL FOR MOLLOY...

JOY FOR FLACKWELL HEATH...

DESPAIR FOR FARROW...

Three times in the opening minutes, the Flackers exploited that avenue of attack, although on one occasion Burnell went left, not realising that Molloy was in acres of space on the right. Farrow got into a mess in one attack but won a free-kick, then the home defence was in disarray as Jack Ross made a fine block, only for Katsoloudi to fumble the ball out for a right-side corner. Jamie Essex (is he not playing in the wrong county?) took the flag-kick, Farrow flailed at the ball, knocked it onto Heathen Dan Bayliss’ leaning head, then it deflected slightly off the unfortunate Katsoloudi and Carl Tappin used an arm to stop the effort going into the net. He was dismissed, which was a shame because United could Ardley do without someone who could supply tap-ins… Burnell shot the resulting penalty low past Farrow and into the left side of the net and still the Heathens attacked.

TAPPIN IN TROUBLE...

PENALTY FOR BURNELL...

0-2 NOW...

Farrow fell right into a furrow and saved an Essex shot, Burnell nearly connected with a low Molloy delivery but when the guests won another right-flank corner, Ardley’s desperation and distress were both compounded. Essex’s right-footed set-piece was towards the far upright, where Cray marked Burnell but inexplicably, the defender allowed Burnell to move a yard from him and almost apologetically nod the ball downwards and inside the post. Not good.

0-3...

FARROW DISTRAUGHT...

BURNELL'S HEADER HAS ADDED THE THIRD...

GAME WON, EFFECTIVELY...

Essex fed Molloy, who slipped a pass for Burnell near the right byeline and his low feed skidded across the goalmouth, before another superb pass right towards Molloy, by Burnell saw the winger’s low drive superbly saved by Farrow, who dived low and right, but he did well to grab the loose ball too. Earlier in that move, Markham had slid into Heathen Dan Rapley with a dangerous tackle, for which the United forager wasn’t penalised for some reason. Rapley shot weakly at Farrow from a Burnell head-on, but the referee wrecked another right-side break by the Flackers, due to awarding them a free-kick and not allowing an obvious advantage.

RAPLEY ATTACKS...

The referee, having already exiled Tappin, had found himself in a tough situation when Talabi and Hicks tangled. Talabi was certainly the aggressor and even yanked enterprising visiting right-back Mitch Woodward to the ground in a windmill of arms and fists, whilst still a-scrambling and a-trampling around the prone Hicks. This was almost certainly a bunch of offences leading to a red card for the forward but the official weakly displayed a pale yellow one. Fair play to Heathen Sturgess however, for calming the situation down…  

TALABI IS IN THERE SOMEWHERE...

THE CALMING DOWN...

The interval reached, Ardley were in a poor state and Flackwell Heath rampant and although the hosts stemmed the flow after the break and their guests were less clinical when Burnell was withdrawn, the evening got little better for the pale-blues.

MOLLOY: FOUND LOTS OF ROOM ON THE RIGHT...

BURNELL: CLINICAl...

Oddly, it was a substitute who caused Flackwell’s only moments of concern: Ryan Knight, whose first touch of the ball was a lobbed volley into the visiting net but an official’s flag wrecked his joy, after he had latched onto Talabi’s good head-on. He also forced a very late low save from Weait, falling left, only for fellow replacement Jordan Jeacock to be baulked by the Heathen defence as he tried to secure a rebound. The hosts suffered the most inevitable of punishments, when Talabi jumped for a header and handled the ball, receiving his exile red card after all. The game lost all semblance of pattern after that and too many errors crept in as the teams basically used up the remaining time, nine against eleven.

TALABI: A FRUSTRATING GAME...

...& THEN HE GETS SENT OFF...

The Flackers had scored early in the second period too, Tripp’s fine pass through inside-right releasing Burnell to lob over the stranded Farrow to complete his hat-trick. His replacement, Jamie West miscued one chance and headed another, from Molloy’s cross, wide of the near post late on, before Hicks nodded an Essex free-kick over the target and Rapley shot across the face of goal from a good position. Essex took two offensive free-kicks: one he shot into a defensive alignment and the other somehow bounced into goal from wide on the left flank, but an offside flag wiped out the score. 

HAT-TRICK FOR BURNELL...

0-4 NOW...

The goal tally was completed by Rapley’s replacement Jermaine Roche, who benefited from strong play by substitute left-back Andrew Dean and he slotted a right-booter past the distraught Farrow from 12 yards, inside-left channel. That was cruel on Ardley, whose defence really had tightened up after the fourth goal had been shipped.

0-5, VERY LATE ON...

GOAL FOR ROCHE...

...& GAME WELL AND TRULY OVER...

There was so little to laud in the home performance, although the central defenders battled competently until the end, even though the midfielders were dominated by Essex and Sturgess, despite the efforts of Adam Morris, whose set-pieces and general involvement were decent enough for Ardley. Woodward and Bayliss were positive as full-backs for the visitors, Tripp and Hicks solid, but Joe Blount’s workrate was admirable for the Heathens, wearing 9 but supporting his dominant forwards with some creative passes. Burnell though, was simply too good for Ardley for cope with…

Me? M40 back to Solihull, from my first visit to Ardley to see a Flackwell Heath team which contained six Dans… Should they not be performing martial arts?

TEAMS:

ARDLEY UNITED:

LEE FARROW, JACOB DAFFERN, LUKE CRAY (CAPT), BRAD COX, CHRIS JACKSON, CARL TAPPIN, MATT CRUSE, ADAM MORRIS, ADE TALABI, ELIAS KATSOLOUDI, JACK ROSS.

SUBS:

RYAN MARKHAM, JORDAN JEACOCK, JOEL MEADE, DARREN BECKETT, RYAN KNIGHT.

FLACKWELL HEATH:

DAN WEAIT, MITCH WOODWARD, DAN BAYLISS, JAMIE ESSEX, JAMES TRIPP, DAN HICKS, DAN MOLLOY, BEN STURGESS (CAPT), JOE BLOUNT, DAN BURNELL, DAN RAPLEY. 

SUBS:

ANDREW DEAN, MATT STOCKILL, LIAM TACK, JAMIE WEST, JERMAINE ROCHE.