TUDOR TALK

[tapper]

From their website:

Bashley went into this game without central defender Pete Castle, serving a one game suspension after his dismissal at Twerton Park a fortnight ago. Gary Middleton returned after illness in the only change from the win at Swindon, while skipper Paul Gazzard made his 200th competitive appearance for the club. With torrential rain falling and strong winds at kick off time, both sides were going to need to battle against the elements as well as each other. Bash forced two early corners, while a Dave Town through ball was just too far in front of Richard Gillespie. A nice dummy from the visitors gave Chris Dillon time and space to shoot wide from an acute angle.

Danny Smith let fly from thirty yards but Hemel keeper Ian Brown scrambled his effort behind for a corner but Hemel were creating the clearer opportunities with Ian Cooper setting up Dillon to shoot wide from eight yards out when well placed. Fine play from Chris Herron saw his cross touched on by Cooper but Chris Ferrett was there to clear. Gazzard made a fine clearing header from a dangerous free kick, and the Bash skipper also deflected a cross from Mark Coulson behind for a corner. When the corner came in from Aaran Cavill, Hemel captain PAUL EDGEWORTH sent an unchallenged header into the net to give the visitors a twenty fifth minute lead.

Smith picked up a caution for a late tackle after referee Ben Knight had initially allowed a good advantage for Hemel, which eventually came to nothing. Craig Davis then slipped the ball inside to Town, but he dragged his shot well wide. Aidan Sainsbury released Gillespie on the right and his cross was well cut out, while another flowing Hemel move ended with Cooper setting up Cavill to clip a shot just wide of the top corner. Dillon and Cooper combined again for the former to shoot wide before Hemel doubled their advantage on the stroke of half time. Adam Martin got in behind the Bash defence on the right, shrugged off a challenge from Town and crossed for CHRIS DILLON to head home from close range.

It almost got worse immediately after the restart for Bash when Dillon was allowed clean through after only ten seconds of the second half when a long ball bounced over the head of Gazzard, but David Elm produced a superb save to turn the ball behind for a corner. Dillon then set up Cooper but he dragged his shot wide. Just two minutes after half time Hemel extended their lead further when IAN COOPER held off Gary Middleton before poking the ball past Elm from close range. Only a minute later Cooper had a shot half stopped by Elm and Middleton cleared the loose ball off the line. Smith then found Gillespie and his cross was just too far in front of a sliding Ryan Moss and went behind off a defender for a corner. Cavill had a shot held by Elm while Town and Knowles combined but Gillespie was unable to connect at the far post. Cavill saw his cross come back off the crossbar before the game changed with twenty five minutes to go when Justin Keeler rose from the bench to replace Sainsbury.

Within three minutes Bash had pulled a goal back. Gillespie’s shot was well blocked by Nathan Bowden-Haase for a throw in and Davis took it quickly to find Keeler. His precision cross was met by a flying header from CHRIS KNOWLES to give Bash a slim chance of taking something from the game. Gillespie laid the ball off for Davis but Brown saved his shot. Keeler then found Gillespie but Bowden-Haase made a fine challenge, and Davis set up Keeler, whose cross somehow eluded the sliding Moss when any touch would have taken it in and Brown took the ball well low down. With fifteen minutes left Bash set up a grandstand finish as Keeler burst forward through the centre circle before slipping the ball to Gillespie on his right. Bashley’s top scorer crossed and RYAN MOSS smashed the ball home.

Moss flicked on a clearance and Gillespie chested it down but the ball ran through to Brown, while Keeler played a great ball down the left which Moss did well to reach but could only put behind. A long throw from Davis was somehow scrambled to safety before the same player made a fine run on the left and his cross was weakly punched down by Brown under pressure from Moss and Gillespie stooped to loop a header over the crossbar. Brown then took a Ferrett free kick under pressure but Hemel were always dangerous on the break and sub Graham Hall was only denied a fourth by a fine save from Elm. Simon Sweeney was cautioned for time wasting before Bash conjured one final opportunity. Knowles and Keeler combined, with Knowles then finding Gillespie who forced a corner. Keeper Elm came forward and Davis almost put the ball straight onto his head but it was half cleared to the edge of the area where Keeler caught a volley sweetly but it flew inches wide of the post and the final chance was gone.

This result leaves the two sides level on points, and with Chippenham surprisingly losing to Mangotsfield, Hemel will now fancy their chances of catching one of the two sides above them and stealing a play off place. Bash do have the advantage of three games in hand over both of their rivals, and will look to bounce back against title chasing Team Bath at Bashley Road on Tuesday night (7.45 pm).

[steve]

From a Hemel point of view....
http://www.hemeltoday.co.uk/sport/Tudor ... 3937450.jp

Tudors close the gap on Bashley

THE in-form strike duo of Chris Dillon and Ian Cooper helped fire Hemel Hempstead to a 3-2 victory over promotion rivals Bashley.
Prior to the game, the two promotion rivals were separated by three points but the Tudors moved level with their opponents after a superb team display.
And boss Steve Bateman revealed his delight at the efforts of his charges.
"Normally I tell the players that we need at least eight of them to hit top form if we're to win games but on Saturday, all 11 of them were superb," he beamed.
"We're in a situation at the moment where we can't afford to slip up.
"Whether that's focused everyone's minds or we've just run into a rich vein of form, I don't mind which because the outcome is that we picked up another win.
"Not only did we play well but I was chatting to their manager afterwards that no-one had ripped them apart like that this season and if we'd been seven or eight up by the time they'd got back into it he wouldn't have argued at all."
Bashley have a great home record this season but the Tudors played like men possessed, outclassing their opponents at times.
Skipper Paul Edgeworth had headed the visitors into the lead before Dillon, who is on fire at the moment, added a second just before the half time interval.
And just two minutes into the second half, Dillon set up strike partner Cooper to put the game beyond the reach of the hosts.
Although the Tudors took their eyes off the ball somewhat, allowing Bashley to pull two goals back, boss Bateman was always confident the points would be going back to Vauxhall Road.
"Even when we started letting them back into the game, I always knew that we were more than capable of going back up the other end and scoring a fourth or a fifth if necessary," he said.
"We seemed to be able to open them up at will and it was very pleasing to see both our strikers on the scoresheet again."