TUDOR TALK

[tapper]

Saturday 24th November
F. A. Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round
Hemel Town 3 Team Bath 0

Following Tuesdays much improved second half display against Uxbridge; Hemel started this match in similar vein, and moved into the first round proper of the competition with a solid win.
The Tudors scored in their first attack on the Students goal after just three minutes. Drew Roberts sent a short corner kick towards Dean Cracknell on the near corner of the area, where the midfielder attempted to send a curling cross back into the middle. The cross however spun furiously and caught by the wind dropped over keeper Darren Chitty and into the far corner of the net, as a bemused Team Bath defence looked on.
Two minutes later Cracknell again set up Chris Dillon for a one-on-one with Chitty - but the on loan striker sent his shot straight at the keeper - and three minutes later Cracknell again was the source of the low cross to the middle that Dillon weakly planted too close to Chitty once more.
Hemel scored their second goal on thirteen minutes. Yiadom Yeboah’s long throw to the penalty spot found the head of skipper Paul Edgeworth - the ball looping just under the bar in Chitty’s top left hand corner.
As is usual in these circumstances, Hemel then took their collective foot of the gas for the rest of the half, and this allowed the visitors more of the ball. But the service to the front two of Sean Canham & Josh Llewellyn was poor, which coupled with some good man marking by the home defence meant that keeper Ian Brown was for once barely troubled, as the Students were contained to a few long range efforts that were mainly off target.
Llewellyn did make a mess of his only real chance (a one on one with Brown) on eighteen minutes, but at the other end Roberts and Dillon both came close in the dying moments, with Student skipper Gary Warren stopping Dillon’s shot on the line on the stroke of half time.
The second half however was a much more even affair as Hemel refused to sit back, their midfield now competing for the ball well.
Matt Townley narrowly missed just over the bar from a free-kick ten minutes in, but again that was about it for chances to the away side, who passed the ball well enough but showed surprisingly little end product.
A contentious decision by Peterborough referee Brian O’Sullivan denied Dillon what looked a good shout for a penalty on sixty five minutes as Chitty took both player and ball, and Roberts fired across goal wide two minutes later as Shaun Lamb cocked up his chance to clear Dillon’s low pass to the far post.
On seventy minutes Nathan Bowden-Haase was on hand to nod the ball off the Hemel line, this after Brown had half parried Sean Canham’s attempted chip over him, and the match now became a fascinating midfield contest as both Cracknell and substitute’s Dwain Williams & Chris Herron upped the tempo slightly.
Hemel didn’t sit on their laurels however and were rewarded with their third goal on the stroke of ninety minutes, when Warren’s clearance forward was intercepted by Williams, who quickly sent Roberts away one-on-one with Chitty who was well out of his goal. Roberts reached the ball first, and easily chipped the ball over the stranded keeper for a well deserved eighteenth goal of the campaign for him.
Hemel’s fans for once went home happy then with their sides showing, and will now hope that the rediscovered form of the last match and a half continues at fellow promotion hopefuls Halesowen next weekend.

Hemel Town:
Ian Brown, Simon Sweeney, Mark Coulson, Steve Sinclair (Chris Herron), Nathan Bowden-Haase, Yiadom Yeboah, Ollie Burgess, Dean Cracknell, Chris Dillon, Drew Roberts, Paul Edgeworth (Dwain Williams). Subs (Not Used): Josh Sozzo, Matt Gearing & Kameron Abbassi.

Team Bath:
Darren Chitty, Matt Lock, Shaun Lamb, Dean Smith (Steve Abbott), Gary Warren, Sami El-Abd, Matt Townley (Joe Flurry), Marc Canham, Josh Llewellyn (Adi Adams), Sean Canham, Matt Hale. Subs (Not Used): Adam Green & Simon Cooper.

[cambo]

Great report, and I think it was a good penalty shout.

See the penalty incident here:

http://www.thecambos.com/tudorsgallery0708.htm

Do you think the keeper went for the ball