TUDOR TALK

[tapper]

Tuesday 4th September
Southern League Premier Division
Mangotsfield United 1 Hemel Town 2

An early goal was what Hemel required to settle any nerves, and sure enough it came on twelve minutes when Drew Roberts’ shot from outside the area took a wicked deflection off Alex Ball and flew past keeper Tony Malessa as he moved the other way.
It was no more than the Tudors deserved as they started the game pushing forward in numbers, and chances also fell to Paul Edgeworth, Ollie Burgess and Simon Sweeney in the next twenty minutes as Hemel threatened to open a considerable lead.
In the end though the extra goals never materialised, and slowly the home side began to push forward as Hemel tired before the break, & both John French and Darren Wheeler wasted chances to pull the scores level as Hemel sat back off the home side.
Mangotsfield quickly started to create some good chances of their own following the break, with Wheeler firing his free-kick just wide of Ian Brown’s post five minutes in, & Alan Griffin shooting wide from an acute angle shortly after.
Ten minutes in however Hemel increased their lead, when Steve Sinclair fooled Sam Bailey with a fine bit of trickery and belted past him to the by-line, where he then chipped a lovely cross to the far post where Burgess running in, headed home from three yards out un-apposed.
On the hour Burgess fired just over on the volley from Roberts’ cross again, but following a double change by the home side they now gained the upper hand as Hemel were pegged further back towards their own goal.
Four minutes later substitute Gary Horgan somehow contrived to miss from six yards out, when Ellis Wilmott’s cross left him with an empty net in front of him. Horgan however (instead of just nodding the ball in) tried for the spectacular volley and totally fluffed it - blasting the ball across Brown and wide of the other post.
At the other end home keeper Malessa had to be sharp to deny Josh Sozzo and Roberts once more saw his shot from eighteen deflected a yard wide by Gary Thorn. But it was at the other end that the major openings were now coming.
Substitute Dave Burburough just failed to connect with Wilmot’s low cross at the far post again and a minute later, French finally pulled a goal back from the penalty spot, after Nathan Bowden-Haase was adjudged to have fouled Griffin.
Griffin himself then sent a tame header straight at Brown as the Mango’s stormed forward looking for the equaliser, and incredibly for the second match in a row lady luck smiled on the Tudors, when Ball’s attempted cross to the far post deceived Brown, smacked off the inside of the post, and bounced harmlessly away across goal.
Burburough, Griffin and Wheeler all missed half chances to break Tudor hearts in the last five minutes as the home side continued to press, but in the end Hemel hung on and even managed to just miss out on scoring a third, when Cracknell saw Malessa hang on to his low drive in injury time.
Hemel fans headed home well happy after their traumas in traffic on the way there, a heard earned win on the road - and top spot in the league - always a long journey pleaser.

Hemel Town:
Ian Brown, Simon Sweeney, Chris Herron, Josh Sozzo (Danny Nicholls Jnr), Nathan Bowden-Haase, Yiadom Yeboah, Ollie Burgess, Dean Cracknell, Steve Sinclair (Fabio Valenti), Drew Roberts, Paul Edgeworth. Subs (Not Used): Steve Bateman, Robbie Kean & Steve Smith.

Mangotsfield United:
Tony Malessa, Neil Arndale (Dave Burburough), Sam Bailey, Gary Thorn (Matt Beadle), Paul Milsom, John French, Alex Ball, Ellis Wilmott, Alan griffin, Luke Ballinger (Gary Horgan), Darren Wheeler. Subs (Not Used): Mike Kilgour & Darren Hawkins.

[pidge]

why the hell is steve bateman named on the bench?
surly another player like tom allnut or leon hibbert could of filled that space.

[marc]

some cup competitions have rules that for the latter stages, squad members have to have played "x" amount of games for the club to be eligable. Perhaps with the circumstances of a fixture build up of the end of last season Mr Bateman fancies throwing himself on if the Tudors are winning by a few goals with a few minutes remaining to make himself eligable later this season? or maybe there were no other fit enough players to make the squad up and the club dont want to advertise that to the rest of the league by not naming a full set of subs on matchday?

[tapper]

Or maybe some of them simply couldnt make a long midweek trip to Bristol because of other commitments like work?

[steve]

I'm surprised he never brought himself on with a few minutes to go and scored a blinding far post header before turning to milk the applause from the travelling army of fans behind the goal.

[marc]

i can picture it now, bateman diving in to the crowd, landing in the outstretched arms of an appreciative Delish who leads the travelling support in to a chorus of "there's only one Steve Bateman"....

maybe he's got money on himself scoring this season

[steve]

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