ALCESTER TOWN 4-3 KNOWLE FC: THE INDEPENDENT, HONEST & LIGHTHEARTED MATCH REPORT...

 Robins Defeated By A Red Card & A Late Alcester Show…

Alcester Town 4-3 Knowle FC

The Mowdog’s thoughts…

It is always interesting when one of the teams I’m watching as an independent reporter has their own media person present and that was the case at Oversley Green for the so called ‘El Seeleyco’ encounter between Alcester Town’s Romans and Knowle FC’s Robins.

The chap was spitting feathers at the break about two of the three officials, about whether Town’s second goal had crossed the goal-line at all, about having to sit on a touchline with no shelter but surrounded by open spaces and also about the indisputable fact that his team was for the third game in succession, playing poorly…

At the final whistle, he was even more irritated, for Knowle had overcome a 2-0 deficit to deservedly lead during a better second period but then saw a player dismissed for his second bookable offence. The chap said that the player had only committed two fouls… Having seen the footage, both challenges were probably correctly interpreted by the referee, who in truth did not have a good game at all. Needless to say, Alcester nabbed two goals against ten men to snatch a sweet victory from the sour sewer of defeat…

DELANEY ISN'T TOO HAPPY WITH THE REF.
NO CHANGE THERE...

The Knowle chap was incensed though that Owen Ward’s free-kick had been given as a goal by a linesperson who was almost certainly not near enough to the bye-line to make a valid judgement, he felt. The reporter was in no position to judge either, for he was almost on the half-way line and I was even further away so I cannot comment on the validity of the goal and indeed, my video footage is not conclusive either…

So, it is tough to discuss issues with someone who ‘belongs’ to a club, for his interests are with that club, whereas I can only be honest in my reporting of a match, as I believe I have witnessed it… 

A quick start by Knowle was overcome by Town who had led from early on, then scored again from Ward’s free-kick and by half-time had looked largely comfortable with a 2-0 lead.

HEWITT & DELANEY...

Knowle then made a fine second period start and capitalised upon shambolic Town defending at two corners to regain parity but Zak Harbon’s fine drive from downtown to put Knowle 2-3 ahead was a joy to watch and suddenly the Robins were a-bobbin’… His strike came from a breakaway by Knowle which was nearly halted by the indecisive referee who so nearly blew his whistle for a foul on Alcester’s substitute Dan MacDonald-Taylor as the guests counter-attacked from a Town corner. A couple of defenders hadn’t got back in time…

But then Harbon received a second yellow card and with some 15 minutes remaining, Ward, then Dan Elwell grabbed dramatic late goals to clinch ‘El Seeleyco’… 

Dan Elwell…

The left-sided forward for the Romans was often caught offside, had a low shot on the turn saved easily but despite little going his way, he finished with a flourish. He was the one who battled on the left-flank to win a throw-in and when Karl Walker chucked the ball to the very effective left-back Mike Jennings, a left-boot cross was swung in. Elwell had slipped behind the taller Knowle defender Sam Delaney on the far side of the 6 yard box and rose to nod the ball in a loop beyond goalie Jack Tregartha and into the left corner of the net… Cue joy for the Romans and a lively last few minutes with Elwell using the left corner to waste valuable seconds. It was fitting that he should be in possession as the final whistle sounded.  

ALCESTER CELEBRATE ELWELL'S WINNER...

The Knowle set-pieces…

It was no surprise really that the Romans struggled aerially despite the performance of Lewis Clarke in defence whose regular headed and kicked clearances were invaluable for his team, for Knowle skipper Lewis Cosgrove, the high-jumping Luke Fox and the tall Delaney were a real threat. Before the interval Cosgrove glanced a header wide then, when Dom Cooper-Edwards in the Town goal palmed aside a decent free-kick shot by Brandon Hague, the ball looped over the crossbar off Delaney’s head from a couple of yards out. 

Fox’s plunging header from Jay Payne’s free-kick flew wide then after half-time both Delaney and Fox had headers cleared from the goal-line, courtesy of Jennings and home skipper Drew Ricketts. Tom Cullen, who had nearly scored at the right stick in the opening seconds of the match from a fine Charlie Morris centre, later headed wide of the right post from a Pete Bailey cross, left-flank. Cullen was unchaperoned…

However, the fightback by the visitors stemmed from another controversial decision by the often criticised referee who ruled that Cooper-Edwards had touched a weak Knowle header as it was about to pass wide. I couldn’t see clearly whether the ball had already gone out of play but a disputed corner was awarded to the Robins. From the flag-kick, Cooper-Edwards’ flailing punch from his goal-line didn’t go far and although Morris slightly miscued his left-foot shot from 12 yards at inside-left, the ball rolled across a crowded goalmouth and only Fox reacted, prodding it through the falling Ricketts and into the net from a few yards.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, I'M A PAYNE?"

The next corner on the right saw Fox make a really huge jump, almost onto and over the back of his skipper Cosgrove but there was no stopping his 6 yard header as it crashed into the net for parity at 2-2…

Zak Harbon’s day…

He was busy, made a few neat runs but also made two tackles which earned him yellow cards. His goal was very well taken, although questions would be asked by the Alcester coaching staff about the scarcity of cover at the back as Knowle broke forward from defending a Town corner. 

It appeared that Matt Bailey had dropped inside to help Clarke cover the middle but that left the right side open for Harbon to lurk in and Hague passed him the ball. Tez Morton had got back but Harbon rounded the Roman midfielder to the left and fired a rising 19 yarder high into the left corner of the net, although Cooper-Edwards’ right glove might have got a touch.

HARBON HAS PUT KNOWLE 2-3 AHEAD...

The sending-off of course offered Alcester a chance to recover and so it proved…

Before the dismissal, Nathan Corry, who had started at right-back for the guests but had moved forward after the break to play in attack when Knowle changed to a back-three and replaced Payne with Pete Bailey, got in a short right-side cross after getting past Jennings. The fallen Cooper-Edwards got into a tangle as Matt Bailey’s touch rolled towards him and Alcester were forced to scramble the ball clear. 

More Knowle offense… 

A low, bobbling effort by Hague in the opening period was easily dealt with by Cooper-Edwards, Morris drove way too high later in the game and Cooper-Edwards saved a low Pete Bailey shot before Alcester grabbed their winner.

Reece Hewitt…

He began the scoring and assisted for Ward’s  second goal, although Karl Walker’s persistence was also key in that attack. Danny Williams, who had a fairly quiet match for the hosts, fed Morton and he played the best pass of the day between defenders for Hewitt to latch onto at inside-left and the experienced striker shot quickly from 17 yards, before ‘keeper Jack Tregartha could make a telling rush. The ball flew into the net off the base of the right post…

The game had almost got away from Town when Walker did well to keep possession near the right corner-flag and his release saw Hewitt burst into a crowded penalty-box at inside-right. He was challenged and the ball rolled kindly left for Ward to smack it into the left corner of the net from 12 yards and it was 3-3… 

Owen Ward…

He turned out to be the critical Roman I guess for he netted twice and never stopped working industrially in the midfield regions. His first period free-kick goal, from some 25 yards downtown was curled viciously from inside-left and beat the leaping Tregartha, struck the underside of the crossbar and bounced down. Although Elwell attempted to score from the rebound he was baulked by a defender and the ball was hacked aside. However, the linesperson flagged immediately for a goal and the referee awarded it…

WARD CELEBRATES HIS FREE-KICK GOAL...

How the linesperson stood like an expressionless statue as he was berated by both Knowle’s players and spectators alike is beyond my understanding…

More Alcester offense…

Morton had beaten Tregartha to the ball near the left byline when the score was 1-0 but Payne managed to hook away the calm midfielder’s low pass towards the goal-line. Later in that opening half, Ricketts’ far post header from Ward’s corner was blocked by a couple of defenders but those chances apart, Knowle dealt well enough with Alcester’s attacks and the team was generally served well by Cosgrove, Fox and Delaney.

HAGUE HAS A WORD...

The final words… 

The referee certainly was hesitant at times and Hague was surely knocked about by Ricketts from behind a couple of times and thus might have won free-kicks on another day. However, from an unbiased point of view, the game was good to watch after half-time, for there was a real improvement from Knowle. 

George Seeley certainly put himself about as a replacement in the Robins’ line-up and one wonders how different the game would have been if Corry had played the full ninety minutes in the Knowle attack.

If the dismissal hadn’t happened, perhaps  they would have grabbed a point or more and in truth perhaps they deserved something from the game. Subsequently though the artful dodger himself, Elwell, rose to the occasion late like a leaping salmon travelling upriver to win the ‘El Seeleyco’ with a fine header…

GAME OVER...

Credit to Romans Bailey, Jennings and the solid Clarke however, as well as substitute MacDonald-Taylor who contributed usefully near the end.

Cautions for Morton and Hewitt for the Romans were added to by Harbon’s two yellows and one for hard working Knowle midfielder and set-piece taker Dylan Bennett…

CAUTION FOR HEWITT...

TEAMS:

ALCESTER TOWN:

DOM COOPER-EDWARDS, MATT BAILEY, MIKE JENNINGS, LEWIS CLARKE, DREW RICKETTS (CAPT), OWEN WARD, DANNY WILLIAMS, KARL WALKER, REECE HEWITT, TEZ MORTON, DAN ELWELL.

SUBS:

DAN MACDONALD-TAYLOR, SAM JONES, ANDRE EDWARDS, ROMARLO BARRETT, JACOB WALTON.

KNOWLE FC:

JACK TREGARTHA, NATHAN CORRY, JAY PAYNE, LUKE FOX, LEWIS COSGROVE (CAPT), SAM DELANEY, CHARLIE MORRIS, DYLON BENNETT, BRANDON HAGUE, TOM CULLEN, ZAK HARBON.

SUBS:

PETE BAILEY, ETHAN GALLOWAY, GEORGE SEELEY.