FOLLY CLUB 2nds 2-2 AFC BINLEY: THE MATCH REPORT & IMAGES...

Wild Own-Goal Folly Hands Parity To Binley

Folly Club 2-2 AFC Binley

Pre-season began for me at Folly Club, on an open area of parkland, where AFC Binley took on Folly’s 2nds in what proved to be a competitive, industrious and on a few occasions, feisty encounter. The uneven dry pitch and harsh grass were clearly going to be tough to pass the ball upon, yet both teams attempted to hold possession whenever possible. Binley led, found themselves behind during a good second period spell for the hosts and then were gifted an equaliser when a long free-kick glanced off a home defender and the ball soared over the ‘keeper to regain parity for Edwin ‘Starr’ Greaves’ team. In fact, only the face of the Folly crossbar and then a wasted free-kick shot by Binley’s Karl Bell prevented the visitors from nicking a victory during the final moments.

Folly were well served by their left-sided attacker wearing 7, for his trickery and pace were constant worries for the Binley defence. He brought AFC goalie Ryan Oldham into action early on when his near post shot, after cutting inside from the byeline, was beaten behind by the gloveman. Before the break, the impish Follyman wearing 16 miscued one effort at goal, skied another and saw a drive deflected wide but his overall contribution in attack was really influential. Like winger 7, he possessed pace and smart control and really, if one could offer any reasons why Binley looked rather uncomfortable during the match, one would have to mention the threats posed by Follymen 7 and 16. Pace at this level can be so very dangerous…

Binley were looking to the experience of Brian ‘Messiah’ Ndlovu in their attack, alongside Tyler Morgan, who would open the scoring for his team. Previously, however Ndlovu had wrestled clear onto Bell’s long pass but he had shot right-footed past both goalie and left post from a decent position, 19 yards out, although to be fair his left boot might just have brought a better reward. He had another angled shot blocked by Follyman 4 too but The Messiah it was whose persistence offered the physical Morgan a chance to fire a low bobbling shot inside the right upright from 15 yards and Binley led.

The midfield work of Binley’s Prince Mazwi, Melusi Mazwi and the rather laid-back Mtshuza Ncube combined to be a strength for the guests during that opening period, whilst the home skipper 14 battled hard too, as did Follyman 10, who was often neat and creative. Both defences got through some work but that pace in the home attack would certainly become more critical after the interval.

Arranged substitutions weakened Binley enough to force Folly into some dominance, although home 10 forced replacement goalie Charlie Weir to parry one hard shot but the same player shot the acceptable rebound wide of the left stick. The skipper shot too high also but then, twice in fairly quick succession, the pace of Follymen 16 and 7 saw them rush past defenders. First they ran onto their skipper’s lofted pass and in the mess at 17 yards, 16 did well to set his feet then clip a smart shot over the partly advanced Weir and the ball dropped accurately under the crossbeam.

Soon afterwards, 16 again ran clear, this time onto 10’s lofted pass but Weir parried the forward’s low left-booter, only for Follyman 11 to convert the rebound calmly. Binley had achieved little since the break, leaving Morgan rather isolated, for Ndlovu had been relieved of duty and not because he had been a very naughty boy…

However, the hosts were rocked when Binley were gifted a daft equaliser. I barely managed to film the incident, it was so unexpected, for the huge, high, lumped kick by Bell was jumped for by a home defender and the ball soared from his skull into the right corner of the net. Suddenly, the visitors began to believe in themselves and replacement David Evans nodded a far post corner against the face of the crossbar and then Bell, with a great free-kick opportunity, wasted the chance to win the match with a weak and low effort straight to the ‘keeper, who wasn’t the tallest to be fair and had looked slightly uncomfortable under pressure from high deliveries. 

Bell fired a very late and weak effort to the ‘keeper and the game ended all-square, which was probably a good outcome. A couple of unpleasant incidents had soured relations though, the worse of the two being when Seb Kassar was the recipient of ‘hands to the beard’ by the home skipper… Hot day, heat of the moment…

It was good to see a game again though, also to see the spectating ex-Coventry United legends Muzzi Nduna, Jean Dakouri and Pierre Moudime, all such brilliant blokes…

I have received no identification information for the Follymen but the AFC Binley squad was as follows:

Ryan Oldham and Charlie Weir (goalies), Will Waddell, Seb Kassar, ‘Dreads' Ncube, Liam Roach (the skipper), Brendan Hackett, Melusi Mazwi, Karl Bell, Tyler Morgan, Prince Mazwi, Brian ‘Messiah’ Ndlovu, Ben Ryder, Jason Spurgeon, Kyle Metcalf, Jaydon Bickley, David Evans.