Post by Dave on Feb 23, 2019 10:32:14 GMT
Carlsberg Southwest Peninsula League Division One East
Match Referee Michael Lazarus
Final Score Stoke Gabriel 2 Alphington AFC 0
Match Preview
Another rare Saturday off work and one not to be wasted as far as watching and enjoying a game of football was concerned. The last few games I have been able to cover have all been Buckland Athletic games, but today I decided to go to a ground I have always enjoyed visiting as Stoke Gabriel are one of my favourite local clubs.
Stoke Gabriel have had a number of very mixed season in recent times, firstly winning promotion to the Premier League and then coming straight back down to Division One East. Just a few seasons later they were back in the Premier League and did very much better the second time around.
I was surprised to see Stoke Gabriel had decided to drop back down to Division One East this season, but what ever the reasons were for that decision, they have enjoyed a great season to date.
Before the start of today’s match, Stoke Gabriel sat proudly at the top of the table on fifty five points having played a total of twenty three games, winning seventeen of them, drawing four and losing just two of them. Along the way scoring an impressive seventy seven goals, conceding just twenty one giving them a plus fifty six goal difference.
It is good to see Brixham AFC in second place and Bovey Tracey in third spot with enough games in hand to eventually end up winning the league this season. In seasons past you would have expected to see Teignmouth, Crediton, Newton Spurs and Galmpton all fighting it out for the top spots in the league.
After being beaten at home last week by two goals to one by the vastly improved Bovey Tracey side and only being able to draw one all against Newton Abbot Spurs in the game before that, Stoke would have seen this game against Alphington as a good opportunity to get back to winning ways.
Alphington came into today’s game in twelve place in the league on twenty eight points having played a total of twenty five matches. Winning eight, drawing four and losing a total of thirteen, along the way scoring forty eight goals, conceding sixty six giving them a minus eighteen goal difference.
After suffering their shock defeat against the struggling Liverton club, Alphington bounced back with a fine two nil home win last weekend against Sidmouth Town and might well fancy their chances of getting a second win on the bounce.
Match Report
When you are no longer able to watch hardly any football games due to work, waiting for the clock to tick around until it was time to head off for today’s match could not have gone any slower if it tried.
Being at a football match on a Saturday afternoon is where I really belong and something I need to work harder in trying to fix. One very good thing for me today was I was able to watch not only my all time ex Buckland Athletic favourite player Danny Gaze play, I was also to see another of my current favourite players also in action Josh Webber.
Onto the match itself and while Stoke could have easily won by a higher score line based on how many chances they created and missed, the final score could have been two all if Alphington had put away the two gilt edge chances they created.
Match referee Michael Lazarus got the game underway and it was Stoke who got their passing game together first and looking the most likely side to get the first goal of the match. They thought that had when Danny Gaze put the ball into the back of the Alphington net at the second attempt, but the linesman raised his flag for offside. The referee decided to go over and have a word with the linesman and as a result ruled the goal out.
Seconds later Alphington’s Ryan Moody looked to be in on goal with a one on one with the Stoke keeper Dom Aplin, but once again the flag was raised for offside and it must have been a mighty tight call indeed.
Stokes Joey Andrews made a great run into the Alphington box, but hit a rather wild shot that flew over the crossbar. Alphington were doing their best to get a foothold into the match, but were guilty of giving the ball away to Stoke players on far to many occasions.
Alphington’s number eleven Kyle Howell hit a powerful shot from out wide on the left hand side and level with the penalty area, but that shot also flew high over the crossbar. Very soon after this Stoke took a deserved lead but Fred Tonkin in goal for Alphington might feel a tad unlucky the ball went over the goal line.
Nathan Hebbes had made a good run into the left hand side of the Alphington box and Fred Tonkin did his best to narrow the angle and dived down on the low powerful shot from the boot of Nathan Hebbes. He was a slit second too late and the ball somehow was half blocked but still got under his body and into the back of the net.
With Alphington still not holding onto possession of the ball well when they had it, Stoke were always looking to add to their lead but were unable too and Alphington still looked dangerous when ever Lucas White went on runs deep in the Stoke half.
One such run saw Lucas brought down just outside of the box and Alphington should have scored from the resulting free kick. Stoke put up a big wall to protect their keeper and everyone was expecting Kyle Howell to try and get the ball over the wall and into the back of the net. But instead he made a great low pass to the left of the wall that put in Ryan Moody clean in on goal with just Dom Aplin to beat. Sadly for him he failed to get any power into his shot and it ended up a simple pick up for the Stoke keeper.
Alphington finished the first half the stronger of the two teams and might have felt a tad unlucky they were not able to end the half on even terms. The second half got underway and it did not take Stoke too long to double their lead.
Josh Webber played a big part in the goal after a neat run down the left hand side and into the left hand side of the penalty area before looking up and laying the ball across and to the outside of the box for Mark Newbould to blast goal ward. It sounded very much to me that the ball took a big defection before beating the Alphington keeper.
Stoke lost concentration for a while as they appealed for a penalty they were never going to get, this gave Lucas White the opportunity to go on a wonder run from deep in his own half right to the edge of the Stoke box. He played a great ball into the feet of Kyle Howell who really should have scored, but he hit his shot high over the bar.
Stoke were creating a good number of chances to put the game to bed, but were unable to take any of them with shots either going wide of the posts or over the crossbar. Tackles from both sets of players were getting rougher and much harder.
Danny Gaze was on the end of one such tackle that maybe was worthy of the first booking of the match. Danny got up and took the free kick and was then booked himself by the match referee. I have no idea why and I am not sure Danny did either.
Stoke were still creating more chances and Liam Moseley made a great turn on the edge of the Alphington box and got a low shot away that only just went past the left hand post.
After another crunching tackle that must have been heard in Paignton, Danny Gaze had to limp of the pitch and be replaced. Shortly after the referee blew up for the end of the match. Stoke were very worthy winners, but credit must also be given to the Alphington players who worked hard and deserved a consolation goal at the very least.
Many thanks to the match referee for his help with the match team sheets and it was also nice to see all my friends at Stoke Gabriel. The club could do with a few more people helping out on match days etc, so if anyone who is reading this who might be local to the club and have some free time, please get in touch with them.
