SPORTING KHALSA 2-1 LYE TOWN: FULL MATCH REPORT & IMAGES...

Fluid Jeys Breaks Lye Hearts, Although Nobody Cares Cuz Nobody Likes ‘Em…

Sporting Khalsa 2-1 Lye Town

This local derby encounter was like watching a turgid Olympic 5000 metres athletics final, whereby the competitors simply go through the motions in a bunch until the last 400 metres when suddenly a one lap sprint decides the medals. The fare on offer at Khalsa’s temporary home, Castlecroft was uncreative, careless and lacking in any real pattern and until Lye netted through Brandon Hague, there had been little goalmouth action at all. Certainly the Flyers had missed two opportunities before the interval, through Ryan Rowe’s miscue and Sam Tye’s near post drive which home goalie Sam Arnold saved with a lunge. Khalsa? Virtually nothing… Errors were rife and offsides seemed hotly flagged for, leaving some players frustrated, some spectators feeling that Lye were getting less than fair treatment by the officials and some other seated fellows spending much of the time engrossed in their mobile phones…

TESFA ARRIVES FOR THE TOSS...

However, once a flurry of substitutions had appeared to affect Lye’s tentative confidence, the hosts won a penalty for a strange hand-ball incident involving Town’s Sam Mills, who was listed as skipper but actually wasn’t. Replacement Mykel Beckley regained parity with a firm spot-kick and subsequently, a blocking foul on Josh Thomas in the third minute of added time by the grafting Lye defender Jack Pearlman, offered home forward Jak Jeys the chance to make up for a few wild earlier shots. His free-kick won the game for Khalsa and as the celebrating Jeys slid fluidly into his manager, Rowey, near the touchline, the gaffer ended up on the bottom of an excited pile of bodies… 

KHALSA TO START...

Lye would consider themselves unfortunate to concede that late killer goal, for their stubborn play had probably made them deserving of a point and their goalkeeper Tom Turner had made three fine second period saves and he must have finished the match as sick as a runner having completed his first marathon then finding out that the course had been a mile short. Two saves were from Dave Meese’s curling deliveries from the left and the third was at the feet of Jeys, after Mills had ‘handled’ to concede the penalty. 

PEARLMAN: DOING WHAT HE DOES...

Rowe would rue his early miss for Lye though, following a one-two with the lively Lee Chilton on the right. Rowe picked up a nod-on by the busy Hague and slipped Chilton to the byeline but the striker miscued the winger’s low delivery at the near post and Khalsa cleared with Sam Tye hovering for any crumbs. An offside decision against either Rowe or Hague infuriated Lye before a fine Chilton switch, passing right to left to free Tye for a run towards the 18 yard line saw the tall wide-player move inside and shoot from 18 yards but Arnold plunged right to turn the ball aside for an unproductive corner. Sporting Khalsa up to this point? Er, well, midfielder Michael Perks suffered an injury and was replaced by Thomas…

CHILTON & THE BENCHMEN, AWAY IN THE, ER, HOME DUGOUT...

THE KHALSA BENCH IN THE HOME, ER, AWAY DUGOUT...

ROWE & BOOTHE, PLUS ROBINSON, WHO APPEARS TO BE SINGING THE U.S. NATIONAL ANTHEM...

Mills was warned for his conduct, with bearded skipper Simon Williams in attendance, before the resulting free-kick, left corner of the penalty-box was struck low by Jeys but Turner saved with ease. Thomas made a rush inside from the left but wasted his miscued shot too high, a shot from 27 yards, almost in frustration by Craig Bannister bounced past the right upright, not dangerously then Lye responded with a clipped effort from the left by Tye which Arnold stretched for and gathered, like a line-out catcher at the nearby rugby ground. Dan Flowers, the hard working Lye left-back began to have a bit more of a contest with Khalsa right-sided attacker Mensah Kinch, whereby a few pulls and pushes were evident and eventually, Flowers was cautioned for his complaints. 

MILLS PRETENDS TO BE MESSI & TALKS INTO HIS HAND, PEARLMAN & BANNISTER APPEAR TO BE HOLDING HANDS & FLOWERS HAS JUST NOTICED THAT...

"ME? JUST STUDYING THE CLOUD FORMATIONS ABOVE WOLVERHAMPTON..."

DOWNES: DECENT FIRST-HALF...

Half-time arrived with collective relief from the spectators, who put away their phones for a few agonising moments and went to find a drink. A member of the Khalsa staff banged on the window behind me to invite me, kindly, for a cuppa and some food but I declined, being merely a visitor. The home defence had been a trifle shaky on occasions, with skipper Tesfa Robinson and sidekick Shawn Boothe a little rattled but it was the disappointment of seeing Khalsa’s creativity from midfield struggling which surprised me most of all. Lye’s glabrous midfielder Lee Downes had looked the player with the most time on the ball before the break and Chilton had appeared, on a few occasions, to be the most dangerous runner. Rowe was a decent holding forward for the Flyers, using his experience but overall, the opening period had seemed tedious. Bring me rum, I thought, for this was nearly as awful as recent episodes of ‘Silent Witness’…  

MILLS: "HANG ON, AREN'T I SUPPOSED TO BE SKIPPER?"
WILLIAMS: "NAH, IT'S GONE TO THE BETTER BEARD..."

ANOTHER OF TESFA'S EXPRESSION COLLECTION...

MILLS GETS A WARNING...

ROGER HARGREAVES WROTE HIS 'MR HAPPY' BOOK ABOUT THIS CHAP...

THE REF'S NOSE HAS JUST DRIPPED ONTO HAGUE'S NECK...

YELLOW FOR FLOWERS:
THAT'S DAFFODILS THEN...

Home midfielder Alex Woodhouse dipped a shot too high, following a serve by the industrious Thomas, before from a cleared left-flank corner, the ball fell to Bannister again and his right-boot delivery found its way through a bunch of players, forcing a desperate low dive left by Turner, who not only managed to stop the ball from going past him and into the net but also succeeded in knocking it away from any predatory yellow shirts. Strangely, Lye broke away from this threat but in a three-on-two situation, Williams failed in a bid to put Hague clear on goal to his left with a disappointing pass. However, moments later, left-sider Tye shoved a low pass towards the lurking Hague on the 18 yard line, who even had time to reset his boots before shooting low off Arnold’s right glove and into the left corner of the net.

ROWE STARTS THE SECOND PERIOD...

CHILTON: CHIRPY FIRST-HALF...

THOMAS: SPRIGHTLY ON THE BALL...

WILLIAMS ADJUSTS HIS WARDROBE, FOLLOWING HAGUE'S GOAL...

Chilton then squandered a chance to maybe settle the encounter when he fastened onto a loss of possession by Khalsa left-back Alex Melbourne, whose earlier defensive play had been strong for his team, especially aerially. Chilton though shot from way out and not well, despite the support on his right of Hague, who had thus been poorly assisted on two successive Lye breaks. Another cut inside from the right by Jeys for Sporting ended with a wasteful shot, before the replacements interrupted a game which was yawning into some kind of wakefulness from an uncomfortable slumber. Jack Till replaced Rowe for Town, then Beckley and Danico Johnson replaced Bannister and right-back Luke Adams for the hosts. A fine challenge by Dan Jones of Lye on Beckley underlined how well Jones had been playing for the guests, another Jeys shot was wasteful, before his ‘keeper Arnold raced out to grab a pass by Till, before Chilton could benefit.

TILL REPLACES ROWE...

PENALTY FOR THE HOSTS...

Strangely, immediately following the replacement of Lye goalscorer Hague by Reece Shilvock, the game changed very much in Khalsa’s favour. Dave Meese, always adept in the air for Sporting, nodded the ball into the Lye penalty-area but somehow Mills, in attempting to clear the ball, fell towards his own goal, 12 yards out and the ball bounced from his torso. His back was to me, also the referee but presumably from the assistance offered by a linesman, the main official awarded Khalsa a penalty. Beckley took the responsibility and fired a shot into the left side of the net, as Turner dropped in the opposite direction. 

BECKLEY (14) HAS EQUALISED...

Parity revved Sporting up somewhat and Meese drove low to Turner, before a couple of shots were blocked by the strong Lye defence. First Mills stopped a low 18 yard effort by Meese and the rebound was whacked by Beckley but Downes charged that one away, only for Beckley to rush for the left byeline but he crossed behind the goal-frame. Meese then curled a fine shot from inside-left and from behind. It so looked like it might move inside the far stick but Turner’s late dive allowed him to get a fine touch on the ball and tip it behind for a corner on the offensive right. Soon a drive by Beckley was brilliantly blocked by Pearlman but the ball rebounded quite a distance and when the second phase of attack took the ball to Thomas, he turned towards goal from 24 yards. He ran into a perfect NFL block by the very same Pearlman and won Khalsa the all important, so very late opportunity to shoot from a free-kick, 20 yards out, inside-right channel. Pearlman was cautioned…

JEYS PREPARES TO WIN IT...

THE LYE WALL FORMS...

Jeys was the initiator for victory, for his right-booter soared over Lye’s defensive wall, beat Turner’s flight, flicked the underside of the bar near the right angle of crossbeam and upright, dropped to the goal-line, spun upwards and hit the roof of the net… Jeys rushed away to slide in joy, upending his manager and the pair of them were buried in the mud by the rather pleased Khalsa bodies on top…

'PILE ON' THE MANAGER...

"COME ON, GET UP, THEY'VE ALL GONE NOW..."

REF: "YOUR BOOTS DON'T CO-ORDINATE WITH YOUR UNIFORM, YOUNG MAN..."
JEYS: "SO FLUID THOUGH REF, YEAH?"

ONE FOR THE ALBUM...

Lye’s players simply looked stunned. And really despondent… And gutted… Pearlman hadn’t deserved to be the one to give the all important free-kick away, nor then to be booked but it’s what happens in this fascinating game we all enjoy so much. Jones had defended so well for the Flyers, Chilton had provided some guile on the right, Tye had made a few sorties on the left but with both forwards replaced, precious little offense was activated later in the game by Lye. Khalsa battled from indifference to a sheer willingness to achieve a result and it was not unnoticed that Beckley, Thomas and Johnson, the three substitutes for Sporting, were instrumental in the winning of the match. Boothe and Robinson had resolved their earlier anxieties in the home defence and the joy at the final whistle was palpable.

KINCH & FLOWERS AT IT AGAIN...

NO FURTHER CAUTIONS...

THE END...

Me? Horrendous journeys both ways on the day, mainly I guess due to the fact that Wolves were playing QPR at home… Took me ninety minutes to travel 35 miles to reach Castlecroft, then seventy-five minutes to reach home following the game… 

Frustrating but, er, it’s what I do… 

TEAMS:

SPORTING KHALSA:

SAM ARNOLD, LUKE ADAMS, ALEX MELBOURNE, , SHAWN BOOTHE, TESFA ROBINSON (CAPT), ALEX WOODHOUSE, DAVE MEESE, MICHAEL PERKS, CRAIG BANNISTER, JAK JEYS, MENSAH KINCH.

SUBS:

JOSH THOMAS, MYKEL BECKLEY, DAN LOMAS, MARK BRANCH, DANICO JOHNSON.

LYE TOWN:

TOM TURNER, DAN JONES, DAN FLOWERS, LEE DOWNES, SAM MILLS, JACK PEARLMAN, LEE CHILTON, SIMON WILLIAMS (CAPT), RYAN ROWE, BRANDON HAGUE, SAM TYE.

SUBS:

BRAD DREW, JACK TILL, JOE FINCH, REECE SHILVOCK, NATHAN STONE.