RAUNDS TOWN 0-1 PINCHBECK UNITED: INDEPENDENT REPORT & IMAGES...

Shopmate Russell’s Dismissal Ensures Knights’ Victory Abroad

Raunds Town 0-1 Pinchbeck United

This eagerly awaited clash between league leaders Pinchbeck and second-placed Raunds was often tense, also sprinkled with bickering, although now and again it was decent to watch despite being generally inconsistently officiated, but eventually the contest deteriorated into unpleasantness at the final whistle when some players confronted a few spectators, who had clearly initiated a potentially difficult situation. One spectator shouted: “This is all your fault, ref…” and then with the upset and agitated United ‘keeper Dan Swan being placated by team-mates, the effective visiting workhorse Ash Murrell left the field shrieking like a banshee, urging “COME ON…” I walked away wondering why people become non-league officials at all, for the verbal abuse so regularly taken by them must be worrying, or maybe it is exciting in some weird way… The main problem though has to be inconsistency, marinated with many players’ win-at-all-costs bending of the rules.

Jamie Russell of Raunds was fouled during the second period of this encounter and flicked out a foot, it appeared, at his aggressor and the referee issued the midfielder an instant red card, to the surprise of many watching, for several heavy challenges during this game had not even been penalised previously. Later, the already cautioned United skipper Nick Bishop was involved in a scuffle almost on the Raunds goal-line with Town’s Gav Wills but the official merely spoke to both, for a second yellow card and thus a dismissal for Bishop would have been sacrilegious, I guess… And then Wills jumped into a late challenge on an opponent, reminiscent of a long jumper landing on virgin sand and he was cautioned for his misdemeanour which in truth looked much worse than the one which Russell had been exiled for.

OBLIGATORY, IF ANNOYING HANDSHAKES...

JONES PREPARES TO WATCH A COIN TOSSED...

The guests appeared quicker in movement than their hosts, boasting the pace of goalscorer Ollie Maltby, the guile and speed of Tyler Wright, the rapid feet of Josh Smith and the busy, rushing midfield play of Liam Ogden, backed up by the work ethic of the impressive Andy Tidswell, all of which caused the Shopmates some consternation, especially during the opening half. Raunds were slower in approach, yet were maybe outmanned in the trenches, where Town were often second to loose balls, with home midfielders Russell, Josh Davis and Dave Townsend less speedy and more deliberate than their counterparts. It was interesting that Pinchbeck’s response to the sending-off seemed one of consolidation, rather than taking the offensive initiative and their lean, athletic striker Maltby was even substituted. Indeed, it wasn’t a good day for strikers all round, time-wise, for the two Raunds forwards, leading scorer Ty Clark (one shot wide) and Mason Thomas (several attempts, one saved, several off target) were also replaced, critically when the Shopmates needed an equaliser desperately. Both were displeased about being removed from the action, especially Clark, who marched to the facilities, wrenching his shirt from his torso and soon I saw him dressed and apparently leaving the Kiln Park ground well before the game had concluded. 

THE CENTRAL CHARACTER LOOKS LIKE HE'S JUST BEEN SHAKEN FROM SLUMBER...

THE SHY KNIGHTS WONDER WHETHER TO HUG...

"OH, GO ON, THEN..."

Wearing two shades of yellow, like historic watchmaker Christopher Pinchbeck’s imitation gold alloy (yes, really…) United began the game on offense and home goalie and skipper Chris Jones was forced to knock away a dangerous Josh Smith cross, before doing well to clutch the subsequent corner. Jones collected a Maltby header from a deep Tidswell centre but little was seen of Raunds who had started like they were stiff-jointed and it was only after a Clark run had come to nought and then Thomas was fouled, that a strike on goal was imminent from a free-kick at inside-right, 23 yards out. Wills curled it left-footed but wide of the left upright. Pinchbeck responded with a sortie by Tidswell to the left byeline but Josh Smith’s low 8 yard shot was blocked.

THOMAS STARTS THE GAME...

AWAY SHED...

HOME SHED...

A period of not very dominant, intermittent pressure by the Shopmates followed another rush by Clark which saw Thomas stray offside and the ball was lost by his strike partner anyway but after Townsend’s smart header into the net from Davis’ deep free-kick had been flagged offside, Thomas rapped an angled shot on the right against goalkeeper Swan’s left glove to earn a corner. Thomas then fed Clark, whose 20 yard shot bobbled wide of the left upright and robust United defender Tom Brooks fouled Clark but merely a warning was offered by the main official. Breaking out from those efforts at their goal, the guests nearly took the lead when a deflected Josh Smith shot was struck low and goalwards by Wright but Jones reacted well to get down and push the effort aside. 

PINCHBECK HOLD THE 18 YARD LINE...

THE 9 SHIRT LATER TUGGED OFF BY CLARK...

SWAN HAS SAVED FROM THOMAS...

CREAMY SKY OVER RAUNDS...

LOTS OF WANDERING PEOPLE BUT NO BALL...

ANOTHER THOMAS MISS...

WORDS ARE SPOKEN...

HAS THE REF SWALLOWED A CHICKEN BONE?

GLARING EYES...

Clark fed Thomas again but the forward shot past the left upright from 16 yards, Swan advanced to stub out two long passes by the Shopmates and Jones collected a Josh Smith drive at the opposite end. In an incident spotted by a nervous looking linesman, Shopmate Thomas was cautioned but the Raunds fans were apoplectic when Murrell wasn’t spoken to at all, for they felt that he was culpable in the incident too, one I didn’t see (seriously & that is not a Wenger excuse!) Thomas did well to feed Townsend on the right side of the 18 yard box but Swan was alert again, getting down with a fast left hand to flick the ball behind his near post for a corner. A shout for a push inside the Knights’ penalty-box by a defender went rightly unheeded by the officials and suddenly, Pinchbeck turned defence to offense quickly with a run from right-back James Gordon. He used the assistance of Josh Smith near the touchline, who crossed left-booted right onto the head of Maltby, whose lobbed effort was clawed at by Jones but he was unable to prevent the ball from crossing the goal-line before grabbing the loose ball.

GOAL FOR MALTBY...

A Thomas volley was hauled way over the crossbar in response just before the interval and the hosts trudged from the field for their break a goal adrift. The offensive pace of the Knights had edged out the deliberate attacking play of the Shopmates but the interesting encounter would change soon after the rest period when Russell would be sent from the field for his reaction to a challenge on himself.

HALF-TIME PORRIDGE SKY OVER RAUNDS...

MALTBY TO START THE SECOND-HALF...

THE TURNING POINT: THE DISMISSAL...

AS SKIPPER, JONES SAYS HIS PIECE...

...BUT TO NO AVAIL...

Yet right at the beginning of the second-half, the Shopmates might have regained parity when a right-side free-kick by Russell was glanced past the far post by Adam Randall’s forehead, from just a few yards out. The referee then awarded Josh Smith and the visitors a corner from a good 25 yards away, whilst the linesman, 5 yards away, had correctly signalled for a goal-kick. Ah, inconsistency had reared its ugly head again… And then a run, a chase, a foul and a swiping Russell boot effectively ended Raunds’ chances of getting anything from this game. The player was instantly dismissed, home skipper Jones considered the decision “…dog shit…” and in the debate following the incident, Bishop was yellow-carded. A bishop under caution? Really?

FREE-KICK TO THE HOSTS...

Wright volleyed too high for United, Charlie Fowler replaced Lee Gotch for Town, unbelievably Maltby was withdrawn for the introduction of Tom Sergeant and the shirt-shredding Clark hurried from the pitch to be replaced by Shopmate Dan Porter. Wright fired too high again for the guests, who survived two Raunds corners, the second of which had been headed goalwards by Townsend but nodded away by central defender Jack Smith, before a 25 yard effort at the other end by Josh Smith was taken comfortably by Jones. Sergeant shot simply at Jones, before ‘escaping’ an offside flag to latch onto a pass on the left side of the penalty-box, whereby his low centre nutmegged Raunds’ Tobi Looker and the ball bounced off the covering Fowler to Jones.

LITERALLY TAKING THE BALL INTO THE CORNER-FLAG...

Thomas then missed the opportunity to equalise when he turned just 10 yards out onto Townsend’s low centre from the right, following Porter’s astute pass inside a defender but somehow the striker screwed his low shot past the left upright. Thomas was then hauled off to make way for Joe Malkin and realistically, the Shopmates had rolled their final die. Ian Dunn replaced the lively Josh Smith for the guests and suddenly they had Sergeant, tall and strong, plus Dunn, experienced, but built like the proverbial brick-shithouse in a less pacy attack, possibly to hold what they had. The brick-shithouse then tumbled like a child’s wooden bricks 23 yards from goal, offering the still effective Tidswell a shooting opportunity and his clipped right-footer from just left of centre, struck the face of the left stick, rebounded and was hacked away by Looker. Tidswell retrieved the ball and his ensuing clipped delivery was headed downwards into the 6 yard box by Dunn, Bishop slid in, Jones saved with his legs and as Wills belted the ball away, the prone Bishop’s boot caught the big Raunds defender who was fortunately prevented from retaliating by Sergeant’s push. The referee took no action. Badly done…

WILLS (6) IS CAUTIONED...

A Malkin head-on allowed Porter to turn inside from the left but his 20 yard shot sliced well off target, Jones dived low to keep out a much better drive by Wright from 20 yards but Dunn was offside as the rebound flew loose, Wills jumped into the referee’s notebook, for his wild flailing boot at Murrell who, to be fair, made little of it. Pinchbeck ran the clock down then and Sergeant and Dunn were perfect for the job, although Jones did have to pick up a weak, low angled shot from Dunn in the closing moments. 

THE END HAS COME...

...BUT THERE'LL BE TROUBLE AT T'KILN...

Cue Swan rushing to the grandstand after handshakes had been endured in the centre of the pitch, then the nasty relations between watchers and doers began and subsequently marred what had been a feisty but hard fought encounter. Tidswell, Josh Smith, Wright and Ogden were always prominent for their team, whilst Gordon, Jack Smith, Murrell and Brooks played big parts for the Knights too but most observers were probably surprised how little the guests took advantage of Russell’s dismissal.

Hard work by the hosts simply wasn’t enough but in fairness, had Thomas’ shooting been more accurate, Raunds might have nicked at least a point. It was not to be though and sadly the main memories from this clash for the independent spectator weren’t anything to do with the football but all about the post-match scuffles, the sending-off and the inconsistencies of officialdom.

Sad.

TEAMS:

RAUNDS TOWN:

CHRIS JONES (CAPT), FRED DEVEREAUX, ADAM RANDELL, JAMIE RUSSELL, LEE GOTCH, GAV WILLS, DAVE TOWNSEND, JOSH DAVIS, TY CLARK, MASON THOMAS, TOBI LOOKER.

SUBS:

MATTY HARRIS, CHARLIE FOWLER, DAN PORTER, JOE MALKIN, JAMES LE MASURIER.

PINCHBECK UNITED:

DAN SWAN, JAMES GORDON, TOM BROOKS, ANDY TIDSWELL, JACK SMITH, ASH MURRELL, JOSH SMITH, NICK BISHOP, OLLIE MALTBY, TYLER WRIGHT, LIAM OGDEN.

SUBS:

TOM SERGEANT, LUKE GARDNER, IAN DUNN.