Cairns Nap-hand Inflicts Heavy Defeat On Tigers…
Kenilworth Sporting 8-0 Birmingham Tigers
The Mowdog’s thoughts…
The interval scoreline was 4-0 to Sporting and yet at 2-0, the Tigers suddenly came alive and might have scored three times themselves before home goalie Dave Allen punted a clearance upfield for Joe Cairns to score the first of his five goals. He scored again soon afterwards and although the guests held their hosts to just two more goals after the break, their hellish afternoon was made worse by conceding twice more in the final moments.
Certainly several of the goals conceded by the Tigers were caused by some lax defending but in truth, subsequent other chances went begging for Kenilworth too.
Abderrahmane Beddasse caused some problems in the Tigers’ attack and central striker Ibrahim Barra worked ferociously for his team, as midfielder Salim Khalid pulled the strings and Aidan Hawker foraged.
So, at 2-0 behind, a long Khalid shot was pushed aside by Allen, Barra got to the rebound and assisted Beddasse, only for Dan Hume to lunge and head the Tigerman’s drive from the goal-line. Soon afterwards, a shot from downtown by Hawker clipped the Sporting crossbar and after Allen had gathered the ball following another Brum attack, he assisted Cairns for goal three with the long punt forward mentioned above.
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| BARRA GAINS POSSESSION... |
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| ...BUT BEDDASSE (12) SEES HIS SHOT HEADED CLEAR BY HUME... |
Barra placed an angled effort across the face of goal too, which he seemed very disappointed with but certainly some of the Birmingham passing was proving to be decent.
After the break, the introduction of Tere Pavy-Roban by the Tigers bolstered the defence somewhat until Sporting moved out of reach with two more goals.
Missed Kenilworth chances…
It was strange to see Jordan Powell not wearing a Coventry Rangers shirt but his aerial ability and tackling were crucial for Sporting and despite not having played much thus far this term, Powell lasted the course of the match well enough. He had a first-half header pushed out by visiting goalie Kieran Reynolds and nodded another set-piece into the side-netting after the interval, whilst Jordan Brandish, who had started the scoring early on, was denied by a Reynolds block prior to half-time.
A couple of Cairns efforts were scuffed off target in the opening 45 and his goals apart, the busy forward also nodded just over the crossbar and fired wide of the left upright from a good position, after the break.
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| CAIRNS (9) HEADS JUST TOO HIGH... |
Late on, replacement Callum Rennolds put two chances past the left stick and fellow substitute Brendan Luff ballooned a 25 yard free-kick over the target, before a mazy dribble saw his attempted lift over the goalie saved.
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| LUFF'S FREE-KICK WOULD FLY TOO HIGH... |
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| A TANGLE, BUT... |
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| ...CAIRNS DOESN'T GET A SPOT-KICK... |
The eight goals…
A centre from the left by Alfie Jones fell at the feet of Brandish, strangely alone 10 yards out and his low shot beat Reynolds into the left corner of goal for 1-0. Dan Turner converted goal two following a Jones corner, which rebounded off the Tigers’ unfortunate Franck Doumenou for Turner to poke into the net.
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| 1-0... |
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| 2-0... |
From Allen’s assist, Cairns turned both Michael Ogofa and Maxwell Dyirakumunda inside-out and shot firmly past the goalie for 3-0. Hume’s long throw from the left was flicked on at the near post for a Cairns tap-in and goal four as the Tigers stood aghast, before the recess arrived.
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| 3-0... |
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| 4-0... |
Goal five stemmed from a long, low Cairns shot which Reynolds fell right for but couldn’t hold onto and that afforded the uncovered Turner an easy rebound to shoot in.
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| 5-0... |
Cairns once again ran through one of the gaps in the Brum defence onto Powell’s measured assist and shot easily past the advancing Reynolds from 19 yards for goal six. Then in the final minutes, a defensive error led to Luff chasing the ball into the 18 yard box but Reynolds got there first, only for the ball to break off his legs to Cairns, who shot into the unguarded net from 17 yards.
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| 6-0... |
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| 7-0... |
The final goal was a simple header from a couple of yards at the right post by Cairns, after Luff’s fine rising effort from 23 yards had been saved by Reynolds up to his right but the ball had spun off his glove straight to Cairns on the bounce and the conversion was easy.
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| 8-0... |
The final words…
The Tigers competed well enough and there was some decent ability displayed throughout the team to promise better times ahead. Some players arrived at Gypsy Lane very late which likely didn’t help and perhaps if Pavy-Roban had been on the pitch from the start, the defence might have looked a little more cohesive.
The striking of Cairns, also of Turner were the catalysts for the Sporting victory but credit must be given to Powell’s all-round efforts, even getting a couple of second period headers away from his own penalty-box when the Tigers roared a little.
Jake Comasky was prominent in midfield too, as was Jobe Worrell, who was so effective for his team. Skipper Matt Bailey was his lively self alongside the powerful Hume, and full-backs Jones and Luke Comasky were always eager to get forward.
Late in the match Allen saved a decent low shot by Brum substitute Yassir Harchane and Khalid drove just over the target but despite the efforts of Sam Johnson, Doumenou, Khalid, Barra and particularly Beddasse, there was to be no reward for the Tigers…
