LANE HEAD 2-2 GNP SPORTS: MATCH REPORT & IMAGES...

Ugly Match At Lane Head Affected By Obscure Officiating

Lane Head 2-2 GNP Sports

Once again, driving from Solihull towards the Black Country was a nightmare of slow-downs and road works, underlining again why I hesitate to drive north on the M6 to see games at places like Sporting Khalsa, Brocton, or Black Country Rangers, which of course limits my choice of matches considerably.

THE REF POINTS TO THE ORANGE AND YELLOW FLAG AND ASKS:
"IS IT OK TO TOSS NOW?"

However, this game was a painful watch for the independent spectator, riddled with fouls, niggling pulls and pushes, poor football on an uneven pitch with a slope, a number of cautions, two dismissals (the GNP manager included) and some officiating which has to be described as ‘inconsistent’, for want of a really unpleasant replacement word. Both teams were affected by the decisions made, or at times not made and one ‘assistant’ not only chatted to some Lane Head people he knew on the sideline during the match but also lost his temper with a spectator who asked him a pertinent question. His response was to bellow over his shoulder that he knew the rules and that he was also an assessor… This must have been concerning for the referee, who was advised and called over like a novice squaddie on an army parade ground several times by the same linesman/assistant/assessor, which must have been slightly intimidating for the main official. It all made for uncomfortable viewing…

BALL STARTS THE BALL-GAME...

REACHING, RUSHING RAWLINGS...

Anyway, the game was forgettable, not only because of the lack of goalmouth action, creativity, or goodwill between the combatants, but also because of the number of stoppages, whether they were the result of yet another foul, or another complaint by a player, or the need for the assessor-linesman to advise yet again, or indeed to replace balls which too often flew out of the ground onto the A34, over the out of bounds seating area, into the street behind the goal with no derelict grandstand, or onto the side-road behind the dugouts where I had foolishly parked my car, due to the limited spaces available at the front of the clubhouse.  

BRYSON & BALL... (SOUNDS LIKE A NEW COMEDY DUO...)

SWINNERTON, LEFT: UNLIKELY HE ENJOYED THE AFTERNOON...

Lane Head were so good at what they did. They stopped their guests playing with a strong physical approach and in skipper Sam Bennett they possessed a really effective centre-back, well supported by Sam Cunningham, a powerful midfielder in Ash Southall and the wondrous Craig Ball at ‘centre-forward’. Ball was a real problem for GNP’s skipper James Bryson to mark and despite a height advantage, Bryson was unable to tame Ball aerially. The forward, built like a brick shithouse, manipulated the GNP defence which struggled for much of the afternoon with the odd pulls and pushes by Ball but in truth, the visitors failed to stand up to the Lane Head ferocity, instead resorting to complaining to an indifferent referee and a belligerent linesman who would have no truck with them.

CONFUSION AGAIN...

SMITH: NO PUSH, SURELY?

BALL ATTEMPTS TO RIP OFF BRYSON'S RIGHT ARM.
THE LINESMAN DIDN'T SEE THAT.

So, during the opening half, Jake Griffiths saw a low drive at the left post blocked by GNP’s Kevin Ingram but shoved the rebound behind the goal-frame, goalscorer Wes Grey had a shot at the near post from Ball’s byeline pass deflected away by Sports’ Luke Swinnerton, then somehow missed the target from 3 yards, after ghosting onto a Jamie Griffiths delivery in front of Swinnerton. Thomas Taylor was then surely really unfortunate to be booked when he became involved with GNP goalie James Wardle. As Wardle collected the ball and moved towards his 18 yard line to punt it away, the two players nudged shoulders and Wardle’s boot kicked out slightly at Taylor but then as the goalie released the ball upwards ready for his kick, he appeared to lose control of it, or maybe he took an eye off it to regard Taylor but the Lane Headman barely lifted his knee and foot to win possession, ultimately slotting a low shot into goal but the referee considered that Taylor had baulked Wardle, disallowed the strike and offered the forward a yellow card. In the grand scheme of things on the day and compared to some of the bad fouls which littered the debacle, this had been powder-puff stuff. And that was it during the first-half for Lane Head, although GNP fared similarly, rarely causing more than a yawn for Bennett and Cunningham. Weak efforts by Scott Hammond and Tom Rawlings were picked up like mail from his hall carpet by home goalie Dan Wilson, Rawlings nodded a near post Charlie Cook cross from the right wide of that post, but apart from those chances, little was produced by the visitors.

TAYLOR (10) WAS CAUTIONED FOR THIS...

...& HE WAS PROBABLY SHOCKED...

BALL: FINE GAME...

COOK: CAUTIONED...

HAMMOND: BOOKED TOO...

GNP had scored early when Rawlings hit a low shot from the right touchline past the ill-positioned Wilson, although the linesman-assessor ran in front of my camera as the ball rolled across the 6 yard box and into the vacant net. Thanks for that…

0-1: RAWLINGS' GOAL ROLLS IN...

GNP SMILES...

...BUT THEY WOULDN'T LAST LONG...

The equaliser was down to Ball’s presence and Grey’s agility, for a long throw by the splendid Southall saw Ball push Swinnerton, then somehow back-head the ball over the challenging Bryson and Grey snapped up the 5 yard chance, beating Rhys Lyons to it and firing his falling volley into the bottom right corner of the net.

1-1: GREY SCORES...

CELEBRATION MUTED...

GREY: NICE BOOTS...

Uncomfortable as it had been to witness thus far, for four bookings had preceded the half-time whistle, surely the second period had to improve? Sadly though, it failed to and indeed it worsened as a spectacle. Before the break Cook was challenged from behind and hooked a leg back towards the yelping Southall, thereby to be shown yellow, Hammond argued with that decision and he was cautioned too, then Southall crunched GNP’s Corey Brookes to see yellow too after Taylor had earned his first caution for the spat with Wardle. Not pleasant, then… 

SOUTHALL LAUNCHES INTO BROOKES AND GETS A CAUTION...

A few decisions were soon to be made by the officials after the break which both teams looked aghast at and in fact, Lane Head’s second goal stemmed from some real confusion. A run by Taylor on the right was halted by an unwise tackle from Torin Coleing, the referee eventually arrived on the scene and his linesman was flagging for a foul, not a penalty and yet, after consultation, the officials agreed on a spot-kick. Ball scored easily into the bottom left corner of goal from the penalty and Lane Head were ahead…

PERIOD TWO, BUT JAKE GRIFFITHS MAYBE FORGOT TO TAKE A HALF-TIME PEE...

THE LINESMAN SIGNALS A FOUL...

...BUT BALL NETS THE AWARDED PENALTY...

...& IS CONGRATULATED...

Oddly, all GNP could muster was a clipped cross-cum-shot by replacement Wil Beach, a volley by Cook from an acute angle on the left which fizzed too high, a close range volley by the well positioned Rawlings which rose way too high, following a Hammond cross and a challenge between Ingram and Jamie Griffiths. Also a 35 yard free-kick by Rawlings was caught smartly by Wilson under his right-angle of crossbar and post. Taylor had received a second yellow card for a foul and had been dismissed, before the racing Rawlings fell in the 18 yard box as Wilson advanced and threw himself down at the forward’s feet, which in the opinion of the linesman-assessor was worthy of a yellow card for Rawlings for diving, even though Wilson’s vile verbal abuse whilst standing over Rawlings was not considered worthy of even a word of caution as to his behaviour. 

RAWLINGS FALLING...

WILSON LOSES IT...

CUNNINGHAM: VITAL INTERCEPTIONS...

THE GNP MANAGER CAN'T FIND HIS DUGOUT...

...& IS DISMISSED...

NOT MUCH CONTROL BEING SHOWN HERE BY THE OFFICIAL...

Then the linesman-assessor and the referee messed up a decision between them and Rawlings must have questioned it, resulting in the ‘assistant’ calling the referee to him (again) to bring attention to what Rawlings had said. A yellow card was actually in the referee’s hand but when he turned Rawlings round and saw ‘9’ on his shirt, no further action was taken. That was a typical example highlighting how poor the officiating was throughout this game, thereby infuriating both teams. Subsequently this incident had quite an effect on the outcome of the match, for it was Rawlings who rose, just about unchallenged, to head in an 8 yard equaliser from a decent left-flank centre by Cook.

RAWLINGS ESCAPES A SECOND CAUTION...

MORE TROUBLE...

RAWLINGS JUMPS...

...& HIS HEADER REGAINS PARITY FOR GNP...

SO, ALL SQUARE AGAIN...

GNP WOULD LOOK TO WIN IT BUT FAILED TO TROUBLE WILSON AGAIN...

Yet the hosts might just have snatched a victory in the dying embers of this maul of a game, which would have been tough on GNP for a draw was probably the right result between the two outfits, despite the fact that the officials had actually won on the day… A free-kick, hotly disputed by the shocked GNP defence offered home substitute Taylor Pollitt a shooting chance from 20 yards which crashed into the GNP defensive wall, only to rebound for Lane Headman Luke Smith, whose fine, low first-time lash through a crowd of players was superbly saved and knocked away to his left by the diving Wardle.  

WARDLE'S FINE SAVE FROM SMITH...

Lyons was cautioned for GNP too for a couple of rough challenges, others escaped punishment for breaking the code, hence inconsistency by the officials, but incredibly no central defenders from the teams received a yellow card, which seems unusual. How to sum up such a dreadful football game has plagued me since the final whistle, which despite so many stoppages throughout the second period, two goal celebrations, also a debate over the legality of the penalty-kick, plus the sending off of both Taylor and GNP boss Shamir Alam, seemingly ended rather abruptly with little added time. It was hard, it was disrupted, it was inaccurate, it was almost totally bereft of creativity, it was not exciting and it was all about the officials, who, despite making rather a mess of their jobs, still left the arena with their fees intact. Not right… And who assesses the assessor?

Ball and Rawlings were fine on the day, Southall, Bennett and James Kelly did well for the hosts, as did the Griffithses at times and Taylor and Grey often made likely runs. For GNP, Brookes grew into the match, little was seen of James Gifford or Coleing, Hammond was quiet, as was Cook but none of the three replacements affected the team’s performance much at all: Jason Evans, Dildale Linton, or Wil Beach. Lane Header Will Sneddon replaced Ball with solid for solid, Pollitt was lively at times but really, this was a game to forget…

Queues on the M6 persuaded me to leave it and travel home on the M5 but, er, that too was jammed from the start…

TEAMS:

LANE HEAD:

DAN WILSON, JAMES KELLY, JAMIE GRIFFITHS, ASH SOUTHALL, SAM CUNNINGHAM, SAM BENNETT (CAPT), WES GREY, LUKE SMITH, CRAIG BALL, THOMAS TAYLOR, JAKE GRIFFITHS.

SUBS:

REECE ALLSOPP, WILL SNEDDON, TAYLOR POLLITT, MATT WOOD, JAKE PAIN.

GNP SPORTS:

JAMES WARDLE, KEVIN INGRAM, LUKE SWINNERTON, RHYS LYONS, COREY BROOKES, JAMES BRYSON (CAPT), CHARLIE COOK, TORIN COLEING, TOM RAWLINGS, JAMES GIFFORD, SCOTT HAMMOND.

SUBS:

JASON EVANS, DILDALE LINTON, BRENNAN KING, WIL BEACH, ED COX.