ALCESTER TOWN 4-1 COVENTRY ALVIS: THE INDEPENDENT MATCH REPORT...

 Alauna Legionaries Defeat The Luntmen…

Alcester Town 4-1 Coventry Alvis

This tie was played in weather which, er, didn’t chuck rain on all those present. How good was that… However, the players expended an awful lot of energy for the duration of this interesting encounter, although it has to be said that Alcester performed with more confidence and created many more goalscoring opportunities. Alvis somehow regained parity before half-time, following the first of Connor Deards’ brace and it was their effective defender Mitch Boe who nodded his team level. Subsequently though, Town dominated much of the second period and ran in three more goals, as well as missing a spot-kick.

THE TOSS.
BUT DOES CONNOR DEARDS HAVE MALFUNCTIONING UNDERGARMENTS?

Visiting midfielder Adam Bourne tried so hard to inject some offense for Alvis but it was a surprise when he was replaced during the second 45, for his ability on the ball was a joy to watch at times. Alvis were well served by their skipper Danny Cairns too, alongside the other two central defenders Frankie Evans and Boe, but to be fair, not enough emerged from their two wing-backs in support of Bourne and Lewis Ludford. ‘Keeper Sean Wilson made several saves late on, from impressive Roman Sam Fitzgerald and also from Town's Kyle King. 

SAM FITZGERALD MAKES SURE HIS SOCKS HAVE BEEN REPLACED, FOLLOWING A TUMBLE...

Alcester’s two full-backs were strong throughout, both Matt Bailey and Dom Perkins being eager to join in with the attack and although midfielder Owen Ward was substituted early on, replacement King dropped in on the right flank, scoring goal three, which allowed the neat Toby Scott to drop deeper and he provided two assists and netted the final goal. Fitzgerald also had two assists but then spurned his penalty opportunity in the final moments. 

The Roman left-flanker Karl Walker and midfield workhorse Joseph Drake-Cervantes were certainly dominant in their efforts, so that Alvis’ Lucinee Donzo and Tom King seemed to be in and out of the game. Coventry’s striker Matt Shepherd worked so hard throughout without any real support and caused the very physical home defenders Lewis Clarke and the powerful skipper Drew Ricketts one or two moments of concern…

DANNY CAIRNS & CONNOR DEARDS...

Before the break Ward’s free-kick offered Clarke a shooting chance which was blocked smartly by Boe, Deards fed Scott on the right and his centre was hacked clear by the alert Cairns, before panic emerged from a Perkins free-kick. A low Ricketts shot was deflected wide by Cairns and Deards smacked a fine shot from downtown against the underside of Wilson’s crossbar. A goal would finally come though and the assist came from the lean, unhurried Fitzgerald, whose low pass from the left was collected by Deards and slotted with care into the right corner of the net. A sliced Cervantes shot was the only other effort at goal by the hosts before the recess.

MATT BAILEY (LEFT) DISPLAYS AN EXPRESSION WHICH SUMS UP HIS ALL-ACTION PERFORMANCE...

Alvis had been so quiet on offense, despite one run by Shepherd, who managed to get by the advancing home goalie Joe Siddaway but an offside flag was wagging anyway. Then they caused the home defence a problem from a set-piece, when Evans headed goalwards and Siddaway punched it out. The rebound was hooked down into the ground by Ludford and the ball bounced up on the crossbeam but Boe’s ensuing shot was hacked clear by the very alert Cervantes. The next corner from the left by Bourne was simply headed past Siddaway by the unhindered Boe and the ball entered the net into the left side.

MITCH BOE: HEADED ALVIS LEVEL...

The break arrived and it must have seemed rather odd to the Romans to be at parity but the defensive prowess of the Alvis trio had given the smart Walker and the belligerent Deards quite a challenge.

MATT SHEPHERD PREPARES TO START PERIOD TWO...

Alvis began the second period with a couple of chances to take the lead but Siddaway blocked a low centre by wingback Jagjit Aujla with his legs, allowing Bailey to clear. Siddaway also used his lower limbs to foil an angled Ludford shot which led to some really clever footwork by Bourne, who shaped to score but he clipped his low shot wide of the right pole. The only other shot came late in the game from replacement Kieran Alleyne, whose drive was brilliantly blocked by the excellent Bailey.

Fitzgerald then became the scourge of Wilson, first shooting wide, then forcing the goalie to palm a 22 yarder away for a corner, before smacking a low volley from an angle on the right which again Wilson stifled at his near stick. A drive from inside-right by Fitzgerald was also deflected wide…

DREW RICKETTS (5): "DON'T BOOK HIM REF. HE SEEMS A DECENT BLOKE..."

Wilson dropped on a 25 yard free-kick by Scott but eventually, the Romans struck with a pair of goals to kill the tie. First, a steal by Scott, mugging Aujla, led to a low pass from near the left byeline and Deards scored past Wilson with ease from inside the 6 yard box, with the defence caught on the turn, following the turnover.

DEARDS ATTEMPTS TO LULL MITCH BOE INTO A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY BY FALLING ASLEEP...

Soon afterwards, an astute Scott pass for King to scamper onto saw the winger reach the ball on the right side of the 18 yard box before Wilson could get there and King’s neat finish bounced into the empty net…

Goal four was deserved for Scott but the lead up was a little strange… A left-side centre by Perkins saw Deards’ wayward overhead kick go out to the right and Fitzgerald, who passed inside for Scott to rasp a low 14 yarder into the bottom left corner of the net.

OWEN WARD WOULDN'T RECOVER FROM THIS KNOCK...

There was still time for Wilson to foul the marauding King but he redeemed himself by leaping right to keep out Fitzgerald’s penalty-kick and then he dropped right to his post and kept out King’s near post flick from Perkins’ left-flank free-kick.    

Despite a plucky performance, Alvis were well beaten by the end of this match but credit to both Bourne and Scott, two opponents who revelled in the limelight…

OOPS... JACOB PARRIS-JONES RECEIVES A CAUTION......

Finally, it seemed that the main official waited a very long time before issuing a couple of yellow cards, which went to visiting players. The delay did seem to encourage some players to take it to the edge at times and see how far they could go. Not right…

DEARDS, FAR LEFT, HAS JUST SCORED THE FIRST OF HIS BRACE...

TEAMS:

ALCESTER TOWN:

JOE SIDDAWAY, MATT BAILEY, DOM PERKINS, LEWIS CLARKE, DREW RICKETTS (CAPT), JOSEPH DRAKE-CERVANTES, KARL WALKER, OWEN WARD, CONNOR DEARDS, SAM FITZGERALD, TOBY SCOTT.

SUBS:

KYLE KING, GEORGE DAVIS, JACK RICKETTS, RYAN FAULKNER.

COVENTRY ALVIS:

SEAN WILSON, JAGJIT AUJLA, JACOB PARRIS-JONES, FRANKIE EVANS, DANNY CAIRNS (CAPT), MITCH BOE, LUCINEE DONZO, ADAM BOURNE, MATT SHEPHERD, LEWIS LUDFORD, TOM KING.

SUBS:

MACAULEY WATSON, KIERAN ALLEYNE, KYLE JAYNES, ALEX ANDREWS, JOE BLOWERS.