GNP SPORTS 1-0 EARLSWOOD TOWN: MATCH REPORT...

GNP Stumble Into President’s Cup Final

GNP Sports 1-0 Earlswood Town

A stubborn performance by the Earls, combining some strong defensive play by skipper Dan Jarratt and sidekick Luke Bowles with the pace of right-back Kielo Brown and left-winger Tyriq Bailey-Nicholls, frustrated a much changed GNP. Sports’ central defender and would-be Vogue model Rhys Lyons snaffled the only goal from very close range following a Charlie Cook corner but few chances were created by either team in truth and entertainment for the hardy souls who stood or sat in the winter cold at Sphinx Drive was sparse and they would surely not remember too much about this semi-final tie. One of the few memories the spectators would take away from the encounter was of the referee, wearing shady specs, black gloves and looking every inch a chap auditioning for a part in a remake of The Godfather, except of course when his shoelace came undone…

READY TO GO...

Neither goalkeeper was particularly extended however, for the Earls’ Nathan Taylor was generally well protected and GNP’s finishing was awry much of the time but he did save smartly from Tom Rawlings’ late second period free-kick. His counterpart, James Wardle was able to watch a few Earlswood shots miss his goal-frame, such was the general inaccuracy on view but he would remember the tie for two incidents when he made catches and was then flattened. First Anton Nunes barged him backwards to the lush turf, then Town’s central striker Duane Sterling challenged him as his feet dropped from a leap and to Sterling’s surprise, there was a-yelling and a-screaming from the gloveman, possibly from an accidental and stray Sterling shoe. Sterling was cautioned, Nunes hadn’t been but during the second period, Nunes’ team-mate Daniel Stokes involuntarily exacted revenge for Wardle by slamming a rebound drive straight at his hapless colleague, which connected…

WARDLE BAULKED BY NUNES...

STERLING TARNISHED...

Despite resolute play, the guests were restricted to a couple of breaks during the opening half, plus set-piece plays, which caused little danger to GNP. However, from a Sports corner, Nunes hooked the ball clear towards Bailey-Nicholls inside his own half and he flicked the ball on, with his back to marker Joe Wright. Fair play to Wright though, he tried to stay with the rapid attacker, who simply raced towards the home goal at inside-left and as a shot was released, Wright was there challenging. The ball rolled across the face of goal and wide, despite the stretching Nunes at the far post. The two incidents involving Wardle also took place before the break but GNP didn’t really set off any offensive fireworks either. 

RAWLINGS WONDERS WHERE HIS STRIKE-PARTNER MIGHT BE...

Brennan King’s volley was deflected towards Wil Beach on the right, his centre found its way to Cook on the left but his smart centre flicked off the side of Rawlings’ hairstyle and wide of the far upright. James Gifford was a trifle unfortunate when a deep Jason Evans free-kick dropped onto his right boot inside the 18 yard box but his awkward volley sent the ball scuttling off the very outside edge of the base of the right post. Rawlings shot at Taylor and saw a goal ruled out by a flagging linesman. It had been a clever low free-kick from the right by the innovative Cook which Rawlings had turned in at the near stick, only to be disappointed when I believe that the lurking Lyons was foraging on the goal-line in an offside position. The best effort at goal certainly came from  Evans, whose mazy dribble past Harry Street, Stokes and Max Rowberry ended with a 16 yard shot which Taylor batted down and grabbed. Lyons did attempt to baulk Taylor during a set-piece delivery but a defender hurriedly conceded a flag-kick anyway.

WANTING THE GLORY FOR HIMSELF, LYONS GETS RAWLINGS' GOAL DISALLOWED...

THIS WAS A FINE RUN BY EVANS: CHECK OUT THE VIDEO CLIP...

And that brings me to Beach and Rowberry… This was a real contest throughout the match and Beach certainly got the better of his marker. Rowberry was certainly no slouch but Beach rushed past him on a number of occasions, crossing several times, although often these were cleared and folks watching were willing Beach to hammer the ball goalwards, instead of assisting others. Only Rawlings seemed to be inside the penalty-box when those crosses were delivered and subsequently it was no surprise that Bowles (please tell me he doesn’t have a relative called Parker…) and Jarratt made so many clearances.   

WHAT BEACH DID...

No goals at the break but for the Earls, the pace of Brown was forcing Cook back to help Evans cope, the speed of Bailey-Nicholls wasn’t really exploited again and Rawlings, unaided much of the time in attack for the hosts, was being outnumbered. At the back for GNP, skipper James Bryson looked in form, Lyons roared alongside him and Corey Brooks was very powerful in midfield, whereas King picked up a lot of deep possession. Cook and Evans were threats on the GNP left and Cook in particular would have a good second period, albeit against a really quick defender in Brown.

EARLY KNOCK FOR BEACH, AS THE REFEREE RINGS AL CAPONE...

The winning goal was scored immediately after the interval, following some attacking play on the left-flank by Cook, who won a corner and took it himself. Bryson rose to head the in-swinging flag-kick, the ball dropped in front of goal for King to hack at but there, close by, was the lurking Lyons again, this time not offside, to convert from millimetres out. His goal celebration looked like he was a kid jumping on a balloon to make it pop at his mate’s birthday party.

LYONS SLAPS HIS PAWS DOWN ON A NON-EXISTENT BALLOON...

Strangely, the goal failed to ignite GNP and really, from then on, only a Cook free-kick which curled straight at Taylor, a back-header from, er, Lyons the Lurker (again…) from Rawlings’ nod forward which cleared the cross-beam but had beaten Taylor and two late Rawlings efforts, would wake the slumbering customers. Rawlings exchanged passes with Beach but his first-time left-footer rose over the crossbar from 17 yards then a free-kick from inside-right by GNP’s top goalscorer beat Earlswood’s defensive wall but Taylor managed to shovel the ball to his left and then grab it. Wright, having been pushed forward did get in a late looped shot but that failed to register a goal too.

"SORRY MATE, NOT REALLY THE TIME FOR LEAP-FROG..."

The Earls had been quietly nullifying the efforts of Brookes and King, the fast runs of Beach, the tricky dashes of Cook on the left and the marauding movements of Rawlings, and thus grew more into a position of confidence and optimism, for GNP were beginning to show concern about their meagre advantage and thus the visitors fashioned a few late chances. Stokes’ 24 yard free-kick smashed into Sports’ defensive wall but the ex-Coventry United man’s rebound drive was perfectly struck, only for Nunes to be in the firing line and the ball cannoned off him and wide of the left upright. Brown’s left-boot volley flew too high, before he raced to the right byeline and provided a great chance for Bailey-Nicholls, who had no choice but to cushion his shot, which went wide of the near stick. Replacement Danny Holloway added a little thrust to the offense and then Nunes prodded a looped shot too high but was then thwarted by Lurker Lyons’ challenge 10 yards out and the ball rolled to a grateful Wardle. Yes, Lyons was lurking somewhere other than on the opponents’ goal-line… 

LYONS, LEFT:
"LORD ABOVE, I'M SOOOO GORGEOUSLY PROPORTIONED..."

The last opportunity for the hosts arrived following the introduction of GNP’s replacement goalie Scott Davis as an outfield player and he, remarkably, snuffed out Earlswood’s final attack. A deep free-kick was played towards the edge of the penalty-box, where Earls’ goalie Taylor had added himself to his team’s offense but it was Davis who headed the ball away for what would normally have been a corner, except that the referee blew his whistle immediately, to signal the end of the match… 

TRIUMPH FOR GNP, THOUGH HARDLY EXCITING.
CHARLIE COOK'S DAD ONLY YAWNED 68 TIMES...

So, a victory for GNP and a place in the President’s Cup Final, despite a good number of their usual starters being ineligible to play. No goals against would be the biggest plus for the Sports’ management team but to be fair, Earlswood posed some speedy threats, although maybe not often enough and despite the industry of midfielder Brandon Mutibvu and his colleague Harry Street, the visitors were unable to get Bailey-Nicholls into dangerous positions more than twice. Brown was a lively customer though and the tussle between himself and Cook was interesting enough, although Stokes might just have been more of a threat as the central striker for his team.

STOKING UP EVASIVE ACTIONS...

As I left the arena, I’m sure I saw the ineligible Scott Hammond measuring out the distance that Lyons had scored from with a 2 centimetre measuring stick…

It’s what he does…

TEAMS:

GNP SPORTS:

JAMES WARDLE, JOE WRIGHT, JASON EVANS, RHYS ‘SERGIO’ LYONS, JAMES BRYSON (CAPT), COREY BROOKES, WIL BEACH, BRENNAN KING, TOM RAWLINGS, JAMES GIFFORD, CHARLIE COOK.

SUBS:

CARUM SAMRA, LUKE SWINNERTON, SCOTT DAVIS.

EARLSWOOD TOWN:

NATHAN TAYLOR, KIELO BROWN, MAX ROWBERRY, LUKE BOWLES, DAN JARRATT, BRANDON MUTIBVU, ANTON NUNES, HARRY STREET, DUANE STERLING, DAN STOKES, TYRIQ BAILEY-NICHOLLS.

SUBS:

DANNY HOLLOWAY, ADAM TURNER, FRASER OLIVER.