EVESHAM UNITED 3-2 SALISBURY FC: FULL, INDEPENDENT MATCH REPORT...

Whites Turn Blue In the Face, As Red Robins Make For A Black Saturday For Salisbury

Evesham United 3-2 Salisbury FC

I watched Steve Claridge play a few times for Aldershot and I was intrigued by how he shielded the ball in attack, leaning forward, buttocks in his marker’s thighs, arms outstretched like a sea-eagle protecting its prey and this approach was very successful. The Shots fans wanted more goals from him but his hold-up play and provision for others were very decent indeed. I watched his career with interest from then on, despite the fact that he turned out for Small Heath at St Andrews. There, I wrote it: ‘St Andrews’… That was tough. I saw him partner the unlucky ex-Argyle youngster Lee Phillips in attack for Weymouth in a match too and so it was good to see him at Evesham with his Salisbury team yesterday, despite the scoreline he suffered, which must have rankled with the TV and radio pundit.

THE TOSSERS TOSS...

A bright Whites start was countered by an Evesham near miss and then a goal, whilst Salisbury’s finishing was off target before the interval. The game’s outcome maybe hinged on a penalty not awarded to the guests, when home skipper Linden Dovey barged opponent Thomas Wright like a Kansas City Chiefs lead-blocker taking out a Denver Broncos linebacker. United then netted a second goal when Ash Williams deflected a long Joe Turley shot past Alex Bass then a fracas resulted in home winger Lewis Binns sin-binned but with only ten men, Nick Stanley increased the hosts’ lead with a header. Cue Salisbury’s late rally when they were awarded a penalty, subsequently scored, then they soon netted a second, if fortunate goal and finally missed a great late chance to regain an unlikely parity as Evesham panicked. In truth though, the Whites didn’t really trouble home ‘keeper Kevin Sawyer enough… 

SMART PROGRAMME COVER...

An offside flag ended an early Salisbury attack although Sawyer’s reactive save from a Justin Bennett header had been worthy. Bennett’s dragged shot wide from 12 yards though would leave Sawyer on his heels as it passed the left upright and really the slow-starting Robins should have been a goal down. Williams’ bad challenge on Wright whose early movement and footwork had harassed Evesham, earned the Robin a caution but when United won a right-side corner, visiting skipper Elliott Wheeler somehow turned Nick Stanley’s free downward header upwards and over the goal-frame. Three offensive headers by Evesham then drifted well off target but after visiting right midfielder and busy-man Lewis Benson had shot across the face of the Robins’ goal, the hosts took the lead.

EVASIVE ACTION AS 'PITBULL' STANLEY HOVERS...

SAWYER SMILES MEANLY...

TYPICAL FIRST-HALF SCUFFLING...

A right-side centre was seemingly flapped at by Bass at his near post, Mark Magee appeared to miscue his left-footed shot across the goalmouth but Smith was alive to the situation and threw himself down like a shoebill stork onto an unsuspecting lungfish to get his head to the ball and as a defender and Bass reacted, Smith probably poked the ball over the goal-line.

THE WHITES, AKA THE BLUES, HAVE MISSED AGAIN...

SAWYER HAS THE SUN ON HIS BACK BUT DOES APPEAR TO BE FEELING THE COLD...

SALISBURY OFF TARGET AGAIN...

Paul Fahy’s right-flank runs for United were dangerous on occasions and after Sawyer had grabbed a through-pass before Bennett could capitalise, Fahy drove an angled shot into the side-netting at the sun-drenched end. Wright maybe shot too early following a Bennett flick-on which allowed Sawyer to pounce upon the forward’s low shot like a bear upon a small rodent but the closest Salisbury came to an equaliser was when left-back Ed Perrett raced forward, engineered a one-two with the lively Mason Walsh on the left, cut inside and clipped a smart low shot just beyond the far stick. The interval was reached, the sunset began to take shape and what a sky it produced! It was getting cold but after a frustrating opening period in which Salisbury didn’t match the wide threats of Evesham’s Fahy and Binns, although their build-up play was often neat enough, the game needed to live up to its billing and as the second-half unfolded, it did so.

STANLEY GROWLS AND HIS BACK PAWS FLY INTO ACTION...

WILLIAMS HAS HACKED WRIGHT TO THE GROUND...

A CLOSE GAME OF 'GRAB AN OPPONENT'S SHIRT' IS ADDRESSED BY THE REFEREE...

A quick start by the hosts though saw Smith and Magee blocked out by the Salisbury defence then the guests began to find a few inroads into the United defence, strongly marshalled by Dovey who soon barged the running Wright out of the way as Sawyer advanced to drop upon a through-pass. The challenge looked at the very least ‘unwise’ but the referee was unimpressed and then after Bennett sliced a cross-shot off target, Lorcan Sheehan, the effective Evesham midfielder, was cautioned. Lively visiting right-back George Colson clipped a 23 yard free-kick only just over the home cross-beam but then a Bennett shot, after controlling the ball on his chest, was brilliantly blocked by the lunging Harding and Bennett’s flicked header drifted past the home goal-frame from a corner. After the replacement of Magee by Adam Mann, the tricky Binns lashed a good cross-shot chance wide of the right upright but United promptly added a second goal.

BASS KICKS CLEAR...

Sheehan’s left-side centre was knocked back from 18 yards by Mann for Turley to strike but the effort from 28 yards or so deflected off the delighted Williams and past the scrabbling Bass into the bottom right corner of the net.

"HOLDIN'? ME? NAH..."

WILLIAMS LIKES HIS DEFLECTION...

...BASS DOESN'T...

...BUT IT'S 2-0 ANYWAY...

Carl Brown replaced Turley for Evesham and then, not due to Brown’s appearance of course, things became nasty. Bennett was involved for Salisbury and when the players crowded round like in a playground spat, it became evident that Binns had become really agitated. I was further along that touchline and with such a maul going on, it was not possible to see what the officials thought they had seen but when the referee produced a red card in Binns’ face, apparently for a ‘head-butt’, the winger leapt up and down like an angry Dennis the Menace in a cartoon image and he had to be physically restrained by colleagues at what he clearly felt was the sheer injustice of it. So Binns thought the decision was rubbish I guess but then he became even more annoyed, for when Bennett was drawn towards the main official, the Whites’ striker, surely fearing the worst too, was shown a mere yellow card instead…

MANN ATTEMPTS TO SORT OUT THE SCUFFLE...

BECALMED...

BENNETT, THE WHITE, IN BLUE, THINKS "RED..."

...BUT SEES YELLOW FROM A MAN IN BLACK...

Sheehan, also already cautioned of course, was withdrawn by United for the introduction of Leroy Odiero and wouldn’t you just know it, the ten men won a corner and scored from it… Mann took the left-side flag-kick and Stanley, a real pitbull of a left-back who played a fine game for United, resisted restraint, sneaked behind Kieran Parselle and rapped a bludgeoning near post header past Bass and deep into the Salisbury net.

STANLEY CELEBRATES...

2-0 AND A MANN (15) HUG...

Claudio Herbert replaced Perrett for the stressed Whites, neat midfielder Brandon Mundy was cautioned for a barging foul, nowhere near as blatant as Dovey’s earlier assault on Wright, one could suggest, then the referee decided that Thomas Whelan had been tripped inside the home penalty-box and promptly awarded an 80th minute penalty to Salisbury. Wright shot into the bottom left corner of the net as Sawyer fell the other way. Evesham then used the running of Fahy and Smith to get into the corners of the pitch in an attempt to waste valuable seconds but the visitors netted a second goal in unlikely fashion moments later.

3-2 & HERBERT, NEXT TO MUNDY (11) LOWERS HIS HEAD WONDERING WHETHER HE SHOULD CELEBRATE THAT THE BALL HAD BOUNCED INTO THE NET OFF HIM...
WELL, CLAUDIO, ASH WILLIAMS DID...

A right-side corner caused a problem at the far post for Evesham and one shot bounced upwards but Herbert was knocked down as Williams and Sawyer took evasive action. The substitute didn’t get up as another shot flew across the goalmouth for Wright to leap at and connect with an over-shoulder volley which was hacked at by Parselle but his miscue only struck the frame of Herbert as he lay on the ground and the ball bounced past Sawyer. Daft, but they all count…

A WHITE, IN BLUE, BURSTS INTO SONG AS HIS TEAM TUMBLES TO DEFEAT... 

The hard-working Robins’ front-man Smith was cautioned for kicking the ball away which is ludicrous these days as there are so many balls lying about the field anyway and the officials should add time on, but that is just something which irritates me alone, I reckon. Yet Salisbury so nearly secured an unlikely point in the dying moments as United panicked like young iguanas in the presence of racer snakes. A shot was saved falling right by Sawyer I reckon although maybe the ball struck an upright instead but when the ball was hacked back across goal from left to middle, there was Walsh, unmarked to score, surely? Er, no, his low shot rolled past the right upright and Evesham’s iguanas all reached their victory podium in safety…

BASS FINDS LOSING BASE...

Salisbury will feel hard done by and Wright, Colson and Walsh in particular will be saddened by the loss although Bennett’s two misses could have been crucial. The Whites’ offense was not one which used the flanks too often, whereas the hosts always looked to Fahy and Binns to serve their rapid forwards Smith and Magee but in the end the game did not peter out but kept the cold, sunset-glowing faces of the 402 spectators interested until the end. 

Steve Claridge? I bet he ached to get onto the field and hold things up for Mundy, Wright and Bennett to feed from his leaning, butt-shoving, wings-oppressing style of offense… But that wasn’t to be.

Me? Back to Solihull to see how the new camera had managed…

TEAMS:

EVESHAM UNITED:

KEVIN SAWYER, LINDEN DOVEY (CAPT), NICK STANLEY, JOE TURLEY, LIAM HARDING, LORCAN SHEEHAN, PAUL FAHY, ASH WILLIAMS, LANCE SMITH, MARK MAGEE, LEWIS BINNS.

SUBS:

SAM GILDER, LEROY ODIERO, ADAM MANN, ELLIOTT KENNEDY, CARL BROWN.

SALISBURY FC:

ALEX BASS, GEORGE COLSON, ED PERRETT, THOMAS WHELAN, ELLIOTT WHEELER (CAPT), KIERAN PARSELLE, LEWIS BENSON, MASON WALSH, THOMAS WRIGHT, JUSTIN BENNETT, BRANDON MUNDY.

SUBS:

CLAUDIO HERBERT, ADAM FLINT, CHRIS ONOUFRIOU, NATHAN BALL.