The End of Season Tourament gets Underway

Well the B&B Trophy got underway this week and all Quarter Final matches were completed by both David and myself. My Legs of the Trophy produced 14 goals, David's 12 goals. So the goal tally was more or less equal considering we play by slightly differing rules, and we both recorded 2 home wins out of the 4 games we played, so no complaints all round.

The Bonfire Alliance Home Legs

Buxted Park Rangers v Eastroke United

First up was the Alliance’s 3rd placed team Buxted Park Rangers v Eastroke United who finished 2nd in the Brookfield League, on paper this seemed an even encounter although Rangers form of late has left a lot to be desired. They had led the table by 4 points at the halfway point, but results in the second half of the season saw them drop to 3rd after only picking up 7 points from the final 7 matches.

The match started with Eastroke taking the initiative after only 2 minutes, a well weighted through ball allowed a first time shot which cannoned off the post, the rebound fell nicely for Eastroke's Ross Barkley to fire a low hard shot past the badly positioned Sam Hardy in the Buxted goal. Eastroke came close to increasing their lead three fold before half time as Barkley had a shot that was well saved by Hardy who palmed the ball over the bar, and a Joe Royle effort that grazed the outside of a post. Half time couldn’t come soon enough for Buxted who had only produced a couple of speculative long range efforts which never even troubled Gordon West who spent the half merely as a spectator.

The second half started as the first had ended with Eastroke combining well in Buxted's half and making the Buxted defence sit pretty deep. But Buxted dug in and midway through the second half a speculative cross field ball from Arthur Dorrell set up a shot for Billy Walker to fire home the equaliser. That goal kicked Buxted into another gear it was now Eastroke on the back foot and a couple of minutes later Buxted gained a corner which supplied Walker with a free shot and left goalkeeper West stranded as Billy Walker scored his 2nd goal. For the final few minutes Eastroke had to defend solidly as Buxted looked to increase their lead, but the final whistle blew before Buxted could produce another meaningful chance. All eyes will now be on the away leg to see if Buxted will regret conceding that first half goal. FT: Buxted Park Rangers 2 v Eastroke United 1

The Inaugural B&B Trophy is now at the Semi Final stage

 

Southover United v Western Villa

Next onto the table was Alliance Premier Champions Southover United against the Brookfield League 4th placed team Western Villa. On paper they seemed evenly matched, considering their differing league positions, both seem hard to beat as their records show.

The game kicked off with Southover taking the cautious approach and seeing lots of possession but Western Villa when they had the ball looked to get forward,although in a tentative manner, all this produced very little in the way of clear chances throughout the first half. Southover's cautious approach caused Western no real concern, and Western never really managed to penetrate the solid Southover defensive line.

The second half started with Southover showing more purpose to their play and started to put Western on the back foot, a couple of early chances from Southover's Harry Hampton, and Joe Bache rattled the posts of Dave MacLaren’s goal, after this Southover stepped up the pace and laid siege to the Villa goal producing a couple of good saves from MacLaren, but with 6 minutes to go Billy Brawn set up a shot for Billy Garraty who fired home from just inside the penalty area. Three minutes later Brawn and Garraty combined again this time Garraty providing the telling pass for Billy Brawn to smash in. The final 2 minutes saw Western produce a couple of decent chances in their pursuit of an away goal but some solid Southover defending denied them. The final whistle blew giving Southover a 2 goal advantage going into the 2nd leg and importantly not conceding an away goal.

FT: Southover United 2 v Western Villa 0

South Heighton v Flimside

South Heighton qualified for the B&B Trophy due to winning the Championship the Alliances second tier. They had only lost 3 games all season and that 3rd loss came in last weeks Alliance Cup Final against South Street Wanderers who had just been relegated from the Premier. Flimside on the other hand have just been crowned Brookfield Division One Champions. Both teams hoping to carry on their achievements of this season.

The game started slowly both teams happy to get a feel for the opposition, but Flimside were first to react and very quickly pushed Heighton onto the defensive. Flimside's domination of of the midfield kept a struggling but so far resolute Heighton defence on the back foot. After 5 minutes the Heighton defence was breached by Flimside's Bob Latchford with a shot from the corner of the penalty area Nigel Simms managed to get a hand to the rasping shot but could only deflect it into the net for the opening goal. The rest of the first half carried on in this vein with wave after wave of Flimside pressure and some stout defending from Heighton, who at half time could count themselves lucky to be only 1 goal down.

As the second half got underway Heighton started to compete in midfield in their quest for an equaliser but for all their efforts the forward line looked disjointed and toothless and apart from 2 very tame shots that were wide of the mark, was all they could manage. This kept Flimside partly on the back foot but looking comfortable for their goal advantage. The first meaningful attack Flimside made in the second half, produced another fine save from Simms in the Heighton goal, from the resulting corner some lax marking from Heighton allowed Bob Latchford to fire a first time shot which zipped past the outstretched Simms for Latchford’s second. The final 3 minutes were eventful when Heighton's Johnny Dixon shot, and produced an excellent save from Flimside's keeper George Wood. The ball came out to the feet of central defender Jimmy Gabriel who was facing his own goal decided to pass back to his goalkeeper, unfortunately Gabriel miss hit his back pass and the ball trickled over his own goal line for an own goal. The game ended with Flimside keeping control and seeing the win over the line. 

FT: South Heighton 1 v Flimside 2

South Heighton's chances of progressing will now depend on the away leg and scoring at least 2 goals, and on today's showing that could prove a tall order.

Cliffe Town v Greyston Town

A mouth watering prospect with Alliance runners up Cliffe Town and Brookfield’s 3rd placed team Greyston Town who look to be similarly matched teams. Cliffe have only lost one of their last seven games and that rich vein of form saw them move up the table from 6th halfway through the season to within touching distance of the title at the end. Greyston themselves had title aspirations but a 0-2 home loss to Iverley park on the final day put paid to that and other results condemned them to a 3rd place finish.

The first half saw Greyston kick off towards the Garden Shed End of the Carlsberg Stadium, and they quickly settled producing their first attempt shortly after kick off. Akos Buzsaky the Greyston Winger crossed the ball straight into the path of Bill Rafferty whose shot produced a fine save from Jimmy Warner in the Cliffe goal. The resulting corner also produced another fine Warner save from midfielder Johnny Williams. Cliffe were struggling to stop the early onslaught and only a miss hit effort from Greystons Paul Mariner which was well wide gave Cliffe a chance to regroup. Cliffe quickly lost the ball again and Greyston capitalised with a through ball to Paul Mariner who calmly side footed past Warner. That spurred Cliffe into a response their first foray into the Greyston Shooting Area saw Dennis Hodgetts combine well with Archie Hunter, that produced a thundering effort from Hodgetts that hit the outside of the post. Cliffe then started to play the kind of football that had elevated them up the table in the latter half of the season, controlling the midfield and using the flanks quite effectively Ally Brown the Cliffe winger swung the ball across the field for Archie Hunter to play the ball into the Area and follow up with a blistering shot which sailed into the top corner for the equaliser. From the restart Greyston's Hugh McAuley found himself free but his shot was gathered by the reliable Jimmy Warner. With a couple of first half minutes left Cliffe's Archie Hunter found Ally Brown in space who calmly beat Peter Shilton at his far post and put Cliffe's noses in front at the break.

As soon as the second half began Greyston showed their intention of quickly getting back into the game, and had a couple of efforts that grazed the woodwork. Cliffe for their part were struggling to find a rhythm allowing Greyston too much room in midfield. Tony Book the Greyston Full Back found himself in space on the flank and sent a pin point cross to Mariner whose shot was again well saved by Warner for a corner. As the corner came in Johnny Williams got to the ball first and slid the equaliser past a static Cliffe defence.

Cliffe once again seemed to come to life and maintained a decent amount of pressure on the Greyston goal and their endeavours paid off. A free kick was awarded to Cliffe and Richard Davies set up central defender Harry Yates to shoot giving Shilton no chance and once again Cliffe took the lead. The final 3 minutes were all Greystons as they searched for an equaliser within the last minute Tony Book on the wing pushed the ball forward for Akos Buzsaky who took a speculative shot from inside the right hand edge of the penalty area the effort was hit with some venom that cleared the diving Warner and hit the roof of the net producing an equaliser with just 14 seconds to go. FT: Cliffe Town 3 v Greyston Town 3

All in all a thrilling game to play and definitely the home leg of the round, both teams will fancy their chances in the 2nd leg.

The 2nd Legs

After a quick phone call to David to reveal our respective results we found that Buxted lost their away leg 2-0 to Eastroke which gave Eastroke a 3-2 aggregate win.

Southover United followed up their 2-0 home win with a 3-1 away win against luckless Western Villa giving Southover United a resounding 5-1 aggregate win.

South Heightons valiant season came to an end with another 2-1 loss to Brookfield Champions Flimside. That gave Flimside a 4-2 aggregate win.

Finally Cliffe Town had managed a 2-1 away win against Greyston Town to reach the semi’s with a 5-4 aggregate. 

Match reports of the Brookfield League home legs can be found here  

The Semi Final Draw

The draw for the semi finals were also made on the phone at the same time. As both leagues had 2 representatives, and under the competition rules Brookfield teams went into 1 pot, and Alliance teams in another giving us a Brookfield v Bonfire Alliance Semi Finals as follows:

Southover United v   Flimside

Eastroke United    v   Cliffe Town

 

Final Thoughts

Well so far so good, we both agreed that the experience to date has been an enjoyable one and it all worked out nicely with both of us having 2 teams each in the semi finals, it really couldn’t have worked out better could it.

This was the first time I’d numbered my players and named them, something David has been doing for some time now, David's Brookfield sides have their own formations and are named after ex Everton and Plymouth players. Mine were Aston Villa players who have have been part of league or cup winning sides up to 1957, and my formations were allocated on how defensive or attacking those sides were in real life. I was quite taken by doing this it gave my teams a personality all of their own. Both of us tried to play each team with these formations, as best we could and I for one enjoyed the experience. Whether I carry on this way into my next season I’m yet undecided but for now it added a little spice into this friendly contest.

Keep on Flicking

Ian and David