AFC SOLIHULL 0-5 GNP SPORTS: FULL MATCH REPORT & IMAGES...

Athletic GNP Climb Hurdles To Win In the Tudor Grange Mud…

AFC Solihull 0-5 GNP Sports

League leaders GNP dominated the opening period in the dull, drizzly surroundings of Solihull’s Tudor Grange Park and its athletics stadium, to lead by five clear goals at the interval. AFC Solihull limited the damage and their embarrassment with a livelier second-half showing on a muddy, heavy surface which the Solihull staff members felt was unplayable. The referee told me he was totally happy with the conditions though. After all, he indicated, he was “…from the north-east…” to which I replied, “Yeah, this must be like summer for you…” Solihull conceded early, then again immediately after a lengthy delay for an injury, certainly not caused by the heavy pitch, to visiting skipper Matty Compton. He was later treated by medics and was driven off to hospital, I understand. All the best to him… Those two strikes were added to three more times by GNP during a ridiculously one-sided first period, the last goal being a very unfortunate header into his own net by home skipper Steven Mason.

NEARLY READY FOR KICK-OFF BUT IS DELE ADEBOLA WISHING HE WAS DRINKING COFFEE IN TOUCHWOOD?

"REF! THAT BLOKE USED TO PLAY FOR THE SKY BLUES! "

Even the inclusion in the AFC attack of ex-Bluenose, Crewe and Coventry City striker Bamberdele Olusegun Adebola couldn’t influence his team’s offensive play, although in truth visiting defender James Bryson’s ‘playful’ attentions caused the ex-pro some physical and mental discomfort during the first 45 minutes. Adebola was subsequently shoved back to help shore up the home defence during the second period, a ploy which worked. GNP goalie Paul Lawrence, no doubt to his own surprise, was rarely troubled throughout this match and when he was, with a rare cross, his handling was firm. The hosts failed to get to grips with Sports’ two wing-back-types, Scott Hammond and Leigh Phillips, who were heavily influential throughout, although a number of their deliveries went astray. That is no criticism, for the pitch wasn’t conducive to accuracy but both of these fellows were very effective and sharp thorns in the AFC rear-end. Scott Lindley did the spadework for Sports, like a stoker on an old steam train, for he kept the GNP engine fired up and did that unglamorous job with no qualms at all.

BRYSON, RIGHT, HAVING A LAUGH...

"DELE, HE'S WINDIN' YA UP MAN..."

Lindley’s efforts meant that fellow midfielder Corey Jack Brookes and the forwards, Connoll Farrell (he keeps turning up at different clubs when I cover games, probably hoping to build up a collection of filmed goals by me…), Joss Holford and Tom Rawlings were able to shift about and rush into a variety of offensive channels. AFC could not get to grips with their guests and soon after both Adebola and Bryson had been warned like two naughty Year 9 pupils by the down-to-earth referee for their squabbling, GNP snatched the lead. A right-side throw led to the alert Holford chesting the ball down at inside-right, 12 yards out, directly onto his right boot and the ball fizzed low past the helpless AFC ‘keeper Dan Wright and into the net. Clinical? Er, yes, like the whipping out of a troublesome appendix…

HOLFORD (10): HARSH FINISH, MATCHING HIS HAIRCUT...

Phillips drove a shot too high, before the injury to Compton occurred and then when play restarted, a left-side throw caused a problem for Solihull and when the ball bounced towards the near post, the switched-on Hammond nipped in to get a touch. Wright couldn’t grasp it and as home defender Eddy Pitt saw the ball roll off his goalie’s foot towards the net, his attempted clearance was marginally too late and the nearby linesman signalled a goal. Two throws, two assists, two goals…

COMPTON IS REMOVED...

"DELE, YOU'RE NOT FROM THE NORTH-EAST LIKE ME, MAN, & I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKIN' ABOOT, MAN, JUST LIKE YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M SAYIN'..."

Nathan Stoute had replaced the injured Compton for GNP and he played with some authority in defence but before any rally by Solihull could even materialise, Farrell did what Farrell does; he nipped in to score skilfully. Following interplay between Phillips and Brookes, Rawlings had been crowded out, 20 yards from goal but he had the nous to poke a smart pass through a copse of legs for the vigilant Farrell to wriggle onto and he veered left past the large frame of Wright and squeezed his left-booter into the net from a very acute angle near the byeline. 0-3 and really, Solihull looked a sorry bunch indeed at this juncture.

ANOTHER FILMED GOAL FOR FARRELL...

0-3 NOW...

Hammond drove wide of the right upright, a long Phillips throw caused mayhem and Stoute fed the ball back for Hammond to shoot over the target from 19 yards, before Wright made a fine save for AFC. Farrell’s assist was splendid and Rawlings fastened onto the striker’s astute pass but Wright raced from goal to save well as the slim GNP forward shot. Phillips delivered a really nasty centre with his right boot from deep on the left and the ball curled and dropped beyond Wright onto the crossbar, although Holford’s shot from the rebound flew wide of the near, right post. And then AFC had a shot…

CONNOLL FARRELL TAKES HIS MINDERS EVERYWHERE:
HE'S A CAPTAIN IN THE COVMAFIA...

"RATHER STOUTE CHALLENGE THAT, NATHAN..."

A half-volley from dead-ball man James Parker fizzed over the target but it was well struck… GNP? Well, they simply went back to the opposite end and netted a fourth goal. Hammond fed Phillips on the right, his cross flew to Holford, 22 yards out and with a couple of defenders before him, he took control and seemed to abandon any semblance of backlift as his shovelled 20 yarder rose high into the right side of the net and left the shocked Wright unsighted and motionless, as if his boots had been super-glued to the already super-gluey, super-mucky goalmouth. 

ANOTHER GOAL FOR HOLFORD...

Phillips quite liked that and so produced another deep right-flank delivery which saw Mason crane (the England leg-break bowler? Surely not…) his neck and divert the ball towards the near post from 12 yards and when a goalie’s luck is out, it really is out, so that Wright was unable to prevent the ball from skidding inside his left stick… Oh dear…

OWN-GOALS ARE RARELY CELEBRATED BY THE SCORERS...

A Hammond shot was deflected too high, then a right-side Holford corner was nodded back inside by Brookes, took a touch off Wright’s muddy left glove and two visitors, Rawlings and Bryson, attempted to score from close range but neither really got hold of their shots and a deflection meant they had to settle for the first of a bunch of late first-half corners. These gave Holford a workout, having to jog from side-to-side to take them, although none of the flag-kicks forced a save from Wright, as the AFC defenders battled to clear the ball. However, as the break neared, a right-side cross by Rawlings saw Farrell get in front of his marker at the near post but he steered his close range effort into the side-netting.

ADEBOLA: RARELY A THREAT BEFORE THE BREAK...

CHARLIE COOK LIKES TO WARM UP WITH A SPOT OF RIVER DANCING...

The interval had arrived, the grim drizzle had stopped and the breeze had become colder but it was no surprise that AFC replaced two players for the resumption and introduced Ollie Gee and Matt Pemberton, the latter of whom did provide some rushes towards the GNP goal. Indeed, both substitutes had shots blocked, albeit comfortably, by Sports in the opening moments of half-two. Following a GNP free-kick, Hammond was denied by a good AFC block at inside-right, then at the opposite end a Parker free-kick struck the GNP defensive wall and then Rawlings struck the outside of the right upright from an offside position, before he made a run to the right byeline only to drift his delivery behind the goal-frame.

A STOUTE RENDITION OF SCOTTISH DANCING...

DAMAGE LIMITATION?
PROBABLY...

Jake Whitehouse was replaced by Solihull’s Ben Whitmarsh, Luke Swinnerton had already given Holford a break for the guests and then Charlie Cook replaced Lindley, whose stoking work was done, leaving him to languish in the station waiting room for his train home. Lively but not well supported home winger Jack Shields was then taken off injured, as the second period continued to lack pattern, as passes went astray and the fare became more untidy and careless, as if both teams simply wanted to bugger off to the pub. A right-side GNP throw-in then nearly made a hat-trick of chuck-in assists, for when Phillips’ sling fell for Hammond, 15 yards out, his stinging drive scorched over the left angle.

"BUGGER THIS, I'M GONNA DO A FEW 400M LAPS..."
DELE CAN'T COPE ANY LONGER...

Farrell worked an opening near the left byeline, then was tugged back by Mason as he raced past with the AFC skipper and Adebola onto a pass but incredibly neither the referee nor the accompanying linesman spotted it. Mason knew though, as he hung his head, awaiting the expected yellow card which never materialised…  A fine piece of play by Hammond ended with a thrash of a shot from 17 yards which was beaten away by the wet gloves of Wright as if he was swatting a particularly annoying bee away his vulnerable nose and the only remaining action was when the referee looked aggrieved at something home defender Jamie Hyland had said, or intimated and a caution was issued. Mason wasn’t best pleased either because he was called forth to witness the admonishment, when he would rather have stayed in his defensive position ready for the next GNP attack…

TIME FOR A YELLOW CARD...

And the match ended, much to most people’s relief, for the damage was done both to Solihull and the pitch, the points had been won by GNP, whose drive towards promotion had been kept very much on course. 

  

MY RESPONSE TO THE YELLING OF "MOWDOG!" BY THE GNP PLAYERS...

Me? Walked the 45 minutes home in the north-east-like summery conditions and pondered on Dele Adebola, whose involvement had impressed me, for he had worked hard at the back during the second phase of this game. So good to see a player of his renown bothering to turn out in this manner… Credit. And Bryson? His smirk, his mischievous smile and his aggression were all in direct contrast to the calm and unhurried defending of colleague Manjinder Dhaliwal… 

It is, after all, what he does…  

TEAMS:

AFC SOLIHULL:

DAN WRIGHT, DELE ADEBOLA, JAMIE HYLAND, STEVEN MASON (CAPT), EDDY PITT, TONY FURNESS, JAKE WHITEHOUSE, ELLIOT PRICE, ANDY MATTHEWS, JAMES PARKER, JACK SHIELDS.

SUBS:

LEE SAVINGS, OLLIE GEE, MATT PEMBERTON, BEN WHITMARSH, MARK FITZSIMMONS.

GNP SPORTS:

PAUL LAWRENCE, LEIGH PHILLIPS, SCOTT HAMMOND, MANJINDER DHALIWAL, JAMES BRYSON, MATTY COMPTON (CAPT), TOM RAWLINGS, COREY JACK BROOKES, CONNOLL FARRELL, JOSS HOLFORD, SCOTT LINDLEY.

SUBS:

LUKE SWINNERTON, NATHAN STOUTE, CHARLIE COOK, JASON EVANS.