Post by Dave on Sept 3, 2011 19:53:48 GMT
Teignmouth V Exeter Civil Service 3rd Sept 2011
I had to check on Goggle maps where the Teignmouth ground was because as far as I can remember, the last time I ever went there (if it’s still the same ground) was when I was about fourteen years old.
Some joker on the gate asked me for six pounds and when I told him he was having a laugh, he quickly told me he was only joking and then asked for three pounds and gave me a programme. The programme itself is a bit better than the one that I got at the Galmpton match, at least a few of the pages seem to be updated for every match and there are a few things to read.
The ground is very enclosed and has a nice feel to it somehow and I soon found a nice high wall to sit on that gave me a good view and ensured I did not have to worry about the linesman running up and down past me blocking me from taking my shots.
While the match might have lacked in quality at times, both sides put in a great deal of effort and on the whole is was a very enjoyable match to watch and I think the best team just about deserved to win in the end.
The game kicked off and Exeter had the better of the first ten minutes or so and looked the more likely of the two teams to take the lead. They nearly did and maybe should have after as the Teignmouth keeper made a save on his near post and the lose ball was fired wide with the whole goal gaping.
But it was Teignmouth who took for me what I felt was a surprised lead after their keeper palmed down a shoot fired at him in a one on one situation from just inside the left hand side of the box. The ball fell at the feet of Sam Chapman who fired the ball into the empty net. Sam was my man of the match and was a constant pain to the Exeter defence the whole game.
The real highlight of the first half was an amazing save that was made by the Teignmouth keeper; they were all still taking about that save long after the final whistle. A powerful shot was fired at goal from the edge of the box and it had goal written all over it until the keeper pulled of that save somehow.
Teignmouth really should have gone in at half time two goals to the good, a free kick was sent to the back of the Exeter box and the ball was headed down to a Teignmouth player who was only two yards from goal. Somehow he managed to scoop the ball over the crossbar when scoring would have been so much easier.
Exeter did their best in the second half to try and get back into the game, but the more they pressed forward, the more likely it looked that Teignmouth would score again. They did have the ball in the back of the net a second time when one of their players jumped with the Exeter keeper and somehow the ball went in, but the linesman had put his flag up for an offside decision.
Teignmouths next best chance to score came when they were awarded a penalty after one of their players was tripped just inside the Exeter box. Up stepped Geoff Breslan who you would have put money on scoring from the spot, but his shot was in my view a bit tame and the keeper went the right way and saved the ball low down.
The referee bottled the one big decision he had to make during the whole game, Exeter’s Jack Phillips was the last man and clearly brought down Sam Chapman right on the edge of the box, if he had not done so then Sam would have been clean in on goal. There were shouts of off off off, but the ref decided to only show the yellow card.
The resulting free kick was fired straight at goal and with the keeper rooted to the spot, hit the right hand post with the ball coming back into play, but was cleared away to safety.
Teignmouth not long after made the game safe when Craig Stonelake curled the ball around the Exeter keeper with the ball hitting the base of the post and going in. The ref blew his final whistle and the Exeter manager took his players over to one side of the pitch, sat them all down and went through the mistakes as he saw them, that cost Exeter the result.
The forecast yesterday was for afternoon rain on the site I checked it on, thankfully it stayed nice and dry and the afternoon was a very pleasant one, even more so when the sun did pop out from time to time.
