FAIRFIELD VILLA 9-2 TRIUMPH ATHLETIC: THE INDEPENDENT MATCH REPORT...

 Patched Up Triumph Go Down Fighting At Villa

Fairfield Villa 9-2 Triumph Athletic

The Mowdog’s Observations…

A hot afternoon at Fairfield, eleven goals and several saves by Triumph’s ‘keeper Kane Barlow offered some entertainment, despite the glaring sunlight. Watching the arrival of Triumph’s players was like a walk into the past for me, when the ever so cool Jean Dakouri approached from a car, followed by Pierre Moudime, both ex-Coventry United players of course… Jean was struggling with a groin problem and didn’t play but Pierre started, then left the field hurt after about 20 minutes.

The others battled in the heat but in truth, they couldn’t match the strength and know-how of Villa, who were embellished by the creativity of Luke Dugmore and the finishing ability of Connor Perry-Holmes. Both players netted hat-tricks and Perry-Holmes must surely like my camera, for I captured a trio he scored for Feckenham a while back too…

The disorganisation heaped upon Triumph by their volunteer players, plus the extreme and unrelenting heat were their main downfalls, despite some decent passing on occasions. They scored two remarkable goals though, one was a shot from the half-way line by Karlo Morgan and the other was a fine free-kick by Andy Sharman. Otherwise, it was all hands to the pump to prevent an even more harrowing loss.

16 IS KARLO MORGAN, SCORER OF A LONG GOAL, FROM WAY DOWNTOWN...

Karlo Morgan is brother to AFC Binley’s trio, Tyler Morgan, plus Blake and Sebastian Kassar, so it felt like I knew Karlo, without ever having met him… An odd feeling.

The best moment of the game came when Triumph’s Tobi Ojutalayo was explaining to Karlo in centre-field what kind of pass he needed to break forward but of course not once did the requested pass materialise…

Fair play to Barlow for the saves he made after the interval, to Sharman for his efforts in defence and to one of the ‘real’ Triumphians, Tommy Atkins, just retired from the army in WW2, whose defensive play was excellent under very trying circumstances.

BARLOW, IN THE BACKGROUND: A TOUGH AFTERNOON...

I cannot dwell on such a cruel defeat for Athletic and so, below, I will mention goal chances, then describe the 11 goals. As a contest, there was little to applaud but some of the goals were delightfully taken…

1st half chances…  

For Villa, Ryan Gittings (if he really was wearing 15) tried to chip Barlow but the ‘keeper caught the effort easily, a couple of drives from downtown by Dugmore were well off target, Cam Knight (if he was wearing 14) tested the tops of the trees behind one goal and he also shot too high from a free-kick, whilst Jake Wicketts drove a shot wide.

Triumph managed a free-kick by Ash Malhorta (hope that’s correct) which flew too high from 20 yards. 

AND THE GOALS KEPT COMING...

The goals which did go in before the recess were as follows:

1-0:

Dugmore blazed in, unchallenged from 28 yards, high into the left corner of the net.

2-0:

Perry-Holmes, despite two colleagues declaring their availability, won a 50-50 challenge in the penalty-box, rose from the ground, nutmegged a defender and coolly slotted a smart finish past Barlow.

3-0: 

Jamie Walsh was freed, totally unattended, by Perry-Holmes' assist and ran forth to shoot past a strangely muted Barlow.

4-0:

Dom Strevens received the ball, 12 yards out, inside-left, positioned himself and drove a shot past Barlow into the right side of goal.

5-0: 

Perry-Holmes was sent clear by Dugmore and calmly lobbed his second goal, leaving Barlow distraught.

5-1:

Straight from the restart, Morgan simply hit the ball from the middle line and his kick dropped over stretching home goalie Tom Walker into the Villa net.

2nd half chances…  

Dugmore drove wide from 25 yards, whilst Perry-Holmes three times brought decent diving stops from Barlow. Strevens leaned back and fired too high, then later attempted to lob the advancing Barlow as he ran clear but his effort cleared the goal-frame. Dan Sutton curled an effort off target, then from a fine run along the byeline by Dugmore, Atkins challenged Strevens and Barlow made a close range save, before Perry-Holmes screwed the rebound wide of the right post.

WALSH GETS A HANDSHAKE...

The visitors managed a couple of shots on the break but Curtis Cutts struck the crossbar from 25 yards, Malhorta headed wide from a corner and Walker fumbled a powerful low drive by Cutts then managed to deny the tall Triumph number 6 at the base of his right stick from the rebound. At the end, Andy Sharman shot too high…

The goals which went in were as below:

5-2:

A 23 yard left-booted free-kick by Sharman was as splendid as it was accurate, looping over the arranged defensive wall and dropping just under the right angle of bar and post, with Walker well beaten.

SHARMAN ENJOYS A MOMENT OF PLEASURE...

6-2:

Dugmore dribbled past two or three defenders towards the right byeline, even beating team-mate Strevens in the process who was in the way and somehow shot from a very narrow angle across Barlow and into the far corner of the net.

7-2:

Strevens released Dugmore into the 18 yard box and the midfielder’s control was sweet as he evaded a defender and slotted easily past the exposed Barlow.

8-2:

James Wynne worked his way into the penalty-box but was fouled, kept his feet and scored, but the official had already signalled for a penalty. Wynne was in a no-win situation: his goal didn’t count and Perry-Holmes wanted the spot-kick to complete his trio of goals, so it was he who shot past Barlow…

9-2:

Pleasingly, Wynne again burst into the penalty-area, held off a challenge and beat Barlow with a low shot. A deserved goal for the young player…

Final thoughts…

Well done to Triumph for getting the match played and also well done to Fairfield for taking the match seriously, rather than just going through the motions.

STREVENS IS FLANKED BY THE HAT-TRICK MEN...

Thanks to Fairfield for the usual fine welcome and to the lady who corrected the Villa players’ numbers for me as the game started and thus prevented a subsequent disaster in player-identification for The Mowdog…

SQUADS (AS FAR AS I COULD ASCERTAIN):

FAIRFIELD VILLA:

TOM WALKER, KIAN DAVIES, SAM HAWKER, CHRIS HILL (CAPT), BRAD HENDRY, DAN SUTTON, CONNOR PERRY-HOLMES, RYAN GITTINGS, JAMIE WALSH, LUKE DUGMORE, JAKE WICKETTS, CAM KNIGHT, JAMES WYNNE, DOM STREVENS.

TRIUMPH ATHLETIC:

KANE BARLOW, TOM ATKINS, KIERAN JAYARAM, ANDY SHARMAN, THE NUMBER 6, PIERRE MOUDIME, CHRIS HARRIS, ERLIND TATA, TOBI OJUTALAYO, ASH MALHORTA, JACK HAYDEN-GRIFFIN, CURTIS CUTTS, ISAAC FRANCIS, KARLO MORGAN.