COVENTRY COLLIERY 2-2 GORNAL: THE INDEPENDENT GAME REPORT + SCREENSHOTS OF THE ACTION...

 Allen Key To Gornal Securing Point…

Coventry Colliery 2-2 Gornal…

The Mowdog’s thoughts…

It was breezy, but sunny intervals intervened regularly and the drive from the A45 towards Coventry through villages with surely made-up names, such as Pinkett’s Booth, Harvest Hill and Hollyberry End (surely places often found in a 1930s novel about rural Oxfordshire) finally led me to Hawkes End and then Colliery’s soccer ground at Hawkes Mill…

Gornal were visiting the league leaders but it was surprising how hard the pitch still was, despite recent rain and indeed, close to the further touchline from the dugouts there was a strip of dry dirt I would not have liked to slide-tackle upon, as I mentioned to home player Brad Taylor… 

Hence the bounce of the ball was high very often and passing the ball first time was a lottery, either resulting in a cool, smooth skill, or a clownish error.

A much different Colliery team faced me on their teamsheet and in truth, Rhys Lyons’ players failed to live up to their league position, as Gornal scrapped and occasionally threatened their hosts. 

Twice Coventry led with well executed goals, twice the visitors responded with goals which were eminently preventable but the form of Gornal defender Jack Allen was such that anything less than a point would have been harsh on his team.

Home replacement Liam Kennedy was dismissed during the latter stages, following what looked like an exile into the sin-bin, which I guess he ‘responded to’ and that led in turn to a reaction from the referee, who brandished a red card at the player’s back as he moved towards his dugout. However, Colliery actually looked livelier for the remaining minutes, which seemed odd at the time but a victory at the death would surely have been undeserved…

The very few attempts at goal which failed to succeed…

In the opening seconds, hesitation and a slight collision between home ‘keeper Nathan Pearce and defender Evan Osborne in the home defence allowed sprightly Gornal winger Abdullah Shamiri to nip in towards the right byeline but the falling Pearce was able to grab the forward’s pass across goal to alleviate further danger.

PEARCE WOULD GRAB SHAMIRI'S LOW DELIVERY...

Following that, three goals were scored, two for the hosts, one for the guests, before an awkward downward header by Gornal’s Ayuub Mirreh was grabbed by Pearce, then a very decent free-kick from way out on the left by home striker Tyrone Wilson forced Gornal’s gloveman Kieran Reynolds to tip the ball away for a flag-kick.

REYNOLDS HAS DIVED TO TIP ASIDE WILSON'S FREE-KICK...

Little else was worthy of mention, bar a curling shot from downtown by visiting skipper Raman Mohammed which he lifted too high but if the first period lacked goal attempts, at least it contained some interesting action. 

After the interval however, the fare on offer was often ugly, usually untidy, lacking creativity and particularly memorable for the lack of any ability by Colliery to test Gornal’s replacement goalkeeper John Hickman, who had taken the place of Reynolds at the recess. Not once did the outfielder-goalminder have to save a shot, as Jamie Tiff’s near post flick drifted across the goalmouth, then weak shots by the well positioned Ash Piper and then Seb Duffy rolled disappointingly wide of the left stick. A late Ben Winkless header was well stopped by Gornal substitute Adam Titmus’ forehead but that was about all the stumbling hosts could manage…

TIFF'S FLICK PASSES WIDE...

PIPER DRILLS A SHOT PAST THE LEFT UPRIGHT...

WINKLESS' HEADER...

...IS CLEARED BY THE HEAD OF TITMUS (12)...

Really, the guests had sightly the upper hand after the break and indeed, regained parity, although one breakaway when the score was 2-2 by Mohammed came to nought when an offside flag was correctly but frustratingly raised against a colleague.

I WAS SURPRISED THAT WELLINGTON DIDN'T SHOOT FROM THIS FREE-KICK...

The goals…

A long punt by Pearce was flicked on by the head of Taylor near the right touchline and that allowed Bryan Badu Wa badu to latch onto the ball. He was being shadowed by Gornal’s Stephen Cudjoe but the Colliery man turned a quick pass inside to the supporting Piper, who moved into the 18 yard box, cut left inside Allen and beat Reynolds with a low left-footer. 

THE PASS FROM BADU WA BADU...

...& THE GOAL BY PIPER...

The visitors replied immediately and it was decent play moving inside from the left, 20 yards out by central striker Sameer Arshad who created the opening for his tricky colleague Jantay Wellington. The Gornal forward who displayed some smart dribbling skills during the encounter benefitted from a fortunate bounce when he tried to latch onto the ball as home defender Will Boden challenged. That opened up a gap and Wellington veered right in the company of Tiff and shot low towards the left upright from 17 yards but although gloveman Pearce fell right, the ball subsequently squirmed beneath his arms and rolled into the corner of the net.

WELLINGTON FORCES POSSESSION...

...THEN SHOOTS LOW...

...& THE BALL SQUIRMS BENEATH THE ARMS OF PEARCE...

...FOR 1-1...

The hosts were back on top, again courtesy of an assist by Badu Wa badu, who raced towards the right onto another Pearce punt. Reynolds decided to remain in goal as Badu Wa badu rescued the ball from near the right byeline and that gave the striker time to pick out a low pass to the supporting Duffy, who veered left to avoid Gornal’s Reni Panayiotou-McGihon and slipped a low shot into the net between Reynolds’ legs.   

BADU'S PASS...

...TO DUFFY...

...WHOSE SHOT GOES BETWEEN REYNOLDS' LEGS...

...FOR 2-1...

The second Gornal equaliser was interesting, for Wellington’s fine left-flank free-kick swerved towards the far post and maybe glanced off Tiff’s hair. Allen actually shoved Duffy out of the way from behind, managed to get a touch on the ball beyond the upright and Pearce, in an attempt to cover the upright, seemed to get a glove to the ball but it bounced apologetically over the goal-line off the inside of the vertical pole. 

TIFF LEAPS BUT THE BALL DROPS TOWARDS THE FAR POST, WHERE ALLEN SHOVES DUFFY...

 

...& HIS TOUCH SQUEEZES INSIDE THE POST...

...FOR 2-2...

The final words…

It was a pity that the game degenerated into a succession of incidents involving grumbling, argumentative players forcing the referee to have to deal with irritated and angry individuals in a series of delays. A number of cautions were issued to players and the interminable stoppages for substitutions messed up the continuity of an already ugly spectacle.

In many ways, I admire the officials at all levels of non-league football, for to spend afternoons likely being criticised, bellowed at, sworn at and scorned seems rather an odd way to spend a Saturday afternoon, or midweek evening…

Respect? There really isn’t much of that…

Osborne looked decent at times for Colliery but he was replaced, Badu Wa badu managed a couple of assists but was unable to threaten the Gornal goalkeepers himself and striker Wilson was rarely brought into the play. The home wingbacks, Taylor and Boden didn’t really affect the visiting defence much, largely due to some strong and pacy covering by Panayiotou-McGihon, Cudjoe and Suhaib Arshad.

Adam Dale and Allen were so effective in the Gornal defence that neither visiting goalie, particularly Hickman in the second period, were put in the way of much danger at all. Mirreh, Mohammed and Wellington were industrious and occasionally inventive for the guests and all the substitutes used certainly put in a shift…

Despite the work of skipper Conor Halton, who was replaced after the break and also Duffy, Piper and Badu Wa badu, there was a serious lack of inventiveness conjured up by Colliery, which must have disappointed the coaching staff. Whilst replacements Liam Cawley, Sam Knight, Callum Regan and Sununur Bah Bah all battled hard, there was to be no victory for the Colliers against the resilient Allen-inspired Gornal outfit…   

Even the journey home was disappointing, for the access back onto the A45 towards Birmingham took me a different way, which meant no Harvest Hill and no Pinkett’s Booth…

That added to the afternoon’s disappointment…