We Hate Ben managed to beat a determined Aber S.P.O.T.S in an enthralling encounter that ended in a penalty shootout.
After a poor start to the match where We Hate Ben allowed a weak corner kick to sneak through into the bottom of the net despite Chris Townsend's attempted clearance, WHB looked the better team throughout. With neat football in some periods the resistance that S.P.O.T.S tried to muster seemed to centre on both tough tackling and the long ball. Despite this however they took the lead and defended fairly well for long periods. The attacks they attempted were almost always closed down by the defence, and Jason Dodsworth was excellent. To be honest, the back four were brilliant all game. Also, after losing Danny Shaw to injury in the warm-up and the Captain coming off with a hamstring injury in the first half. Alex MacDonald came on only to injure himself and was replaced with Chris Webster. With some other substitutions WHB continued to threaten, Alastair England and Adee Egbeyemi (who made his debut off the bench) being two of most enterprising.
The SoccerJoos attacked and eventually got their reward. A cross came in and was handled by an opposition defender and a penalty was awarded despite two previous claims that were turned down. Chris Townsend stepped up (he was also making his 20th appearance for WHB, the club record) and slotted the ball home comfortably. WHB were level and continued to take the game to S.P.O.T.S. With fifteen minutes to go England was put through and headed over the Goalkeeper, now having two goals in two substitute appearances.
The drama was not over however as with only ten minutes left, Webster was adjudged to have deliberately blocked out a S.P.O.T.S player from the ball which allowed the advancing Liam Weaver to save. S.P.O.T.S scored the penalty and the match was now to be decided on penalties.
This is where the real drama of what was still an exciting match finally unfolded. Townsend was first up and saw his penalty unfortunately hit both posts and rolled along the line only to stay out. The first S.P.O.T.S player stepped up and scored. Paresh Bodalikar took the second penalty poorly but the goalkeeper didn't manage to keep it out despite handling it. Weaver produced a save from the second taker and WHB looked to be back on top. Adam Edgerley took the third and saw his nervous attempt saved by the S.P.O.T.S keeper. WHB again looked on hoping for a miracle and they got it, as the third taker saw his shot cannon back off the bar. Up stepped Hywel Williams and his calm effort was put away. It was now advantage WHB as the fourth penalty taker stepped up, his shot was saved by Weaver and Mike Jones who had been standing in as Captain took his penalty only to see it hit the post. The fifth S.P.O.T.S taker stepped up, kissing the badge on his shirt as he looked at his teammates. Needing to score to keep his team in the shootout, he saw his shot trickle wide and out and WHB made the Quarter-Finals.
The celebrations were carried on well into the night. Naik spoke of the match afterwards and was notably stern despite the victory. He said "I am very disappointed that the match wasn't killed off in normal time as we looked the better side for the entire match. Chances were not taken again, and after Christmas we will look to take them. I am happy that we kept our nerve to win the shootout but as I said it should never have gotten that far."
Team (4-4-1-1 then 4-4-2)
Weaver - Dodsworth, Rees, Jones, Townsend - Giessler, Bodalikar, Edgerley, Mack - Williams - Peate.
Subs: (used) England, Webster, Sermon, MacDonald, Egbeyemi (unused) Shaw, Scott.
Goals: Townsend (pen), England.
Man of the match: Dodsworth
Actual match report:
ReplyDeleteToday’s game saw We Hate Ben FC take on Aber S.P.O.T.S in the Aberystwyth Town Cup. As the players and fans braved the cold a real footballing treat was served up for all.
The match got off to a flying start as James Peate hit the crossbar with the first kick of the game. As Peate's shot deflected back toward the ground it bounced off a defenders heal, into the goalkeepers face and was eventually cleared. How the effort stayed out is anyone’s guess.
As the game started to settle it was Aber S.P.O.T.S who broke the deadlock. In a neat and flowing move the S.P.O.T.S players spread the ball from one flank to the other before a neat through ball was played to Richard Owusu-Apenten just out side the We Hate Ben area. The following proceedings had players and spectators alike pinching themselves in disbelief. As Owusu-Apentin approached the best keeper in digs league football he chipped the ball to one side, did a forward role in the opposite direction and quickly got up and ran across the box to head the ball past the dumbfounded Liam Weaver from his own assist. We Hate Ben manager James “show us yer snake” Naik was at a loss to explain his feelings after the goal merely stating “For a moment I thought I was at the circus, not at a football match! But then I realised that there was no big top, no ring master and that it wasn’t a lion playing at left back, it was Townsend”.
The goal was a setback for We Hate Ben but came early enough for them to regroup and set about finding a reply. However, the Aber S.P.O.T.S defence stayed composed and held firm managing to keep their lead through to the half time break. Both managers used the 15 minute break to try to fire up their troops and James “show us yer snake” Naik’s passionate team talk seemed to do the trick. We Hate Ben came flying out of the blocks and put Aber S.P.O.T.S under the cosh with a wave of relentless attacking. We Hate Ben Captain, Darrell Rees was heard to say that he thought their must’ve been a Land Rover parked in the goal mouth the way that We Hate Ben’s efforts were staying out. The grounds man was called, the Land Rover was moved and We Hate Ben, once again, set about making their comeback.
The equalising goal came in the 63rd minute. The move started with a smart run up the right hand flank by Jason Dodsworth. As Dodsworth approached the half way line with dazzling pace, he played a ball of pin point accuracy to Paresh Bodalikar who was just outside of the opposition area. Bodalikar seemed to lose his footing and he fell to the floor with no S.P.O.T.S defenders within 50 yards of him. It seemed like a certain goal scoring opportunity was lost but the referee made, what can only be described as, a controversial decision and awarded We Hate Ben the penalty kick. You can’t help but think that he will regret that decision when he sees the replay. The decision turned out to be costly for S.P.O.T.S as Townsend stepped up to slot home the penalty with a cheeky chip down the middle.
Within 10 seconds of the equaliser We Hate Ben scored their second. Alistair England went on a run from the kick off and took on the whole S.P.O.T.S team, managing to nutmeg every single one of them, before chipping the ball over the advancing goal keepers head and into the top corner.
From here on in We Hate Ben dominated proceedings and passed the ball around to gleeful shouts of “Ole” from the fans on the terraces. Their party was spoiled though as, in a bizarre turn of events, Michael Jones thought he had heard the referees whistle and picked the ball up before walking over to the referee to ask what was wrong. The referees response was “you’ve have just picked the ball up in the penalty area, that’s what’s wrong”. Who knows what Jones heard, but it wasn’t the referees whistle. The resulting spot kick was fired into the bottom corner of the net to set up a tantalising penalty shoot out.
The shoot out started badly for We Hate Ben as Christopher Townsend’s rasping effort cannoned of both posts before rolling back out to safety. However two saves from Liam Weaver helped We Hate Ben to an eventual 2-1 win on penalties, with Michael Jones scoring the winner with his arse.
After the shootout James “show us yer snake” Naik commented that he thought We Hate Ben really did play triangle football and eventually got the win that they deserved. Naik will now be hoping that the confidence gained from this win will see the start of a good run in form, starting with a game against Sexual Harassment Panther Panda Polar Bears on a date which is yet to be announced.