Galmpton Utd V Alphington 7th Dec 2013

[Dave]

Carlsberg South West Penninsula League Division One East

Galmpton United V Alphington Saturday 7th December 2013

Kick-Off 2.15pm final score Galmpton 1 Alphington 8

It was certainly a bad day at the office as far as Galmpton were concerned today, yet they played well enough, worked their socks off and never gave up. But were simply beaten on the day by a side that played some of the best football I have ever seen at this level.

Galmpton actually started the game very well and were soon in front and when Alphington lost their number one striker very early in the game due to injury, I expect Galmpton thought this was a game they were going to win. So what went wrong for them? nothing really and I do not think there was anything they could have done better to stop what turned out to be an embarrassing final score.

Galmptons one and only goal came very early in the match, a good defence spitting pass was made from deep in the Galmpton half and Dan Rankin burst at great pace between the two defenders and coolly took the ball around Jack Mc Andrews in goal for Alphington and fired the ball home.

But it did not take long for Alphington to get their first goal and it came about after a free kick taken out on the left hand side of the pitch into the Galmpton box was only half cleared. The ball did not even get out of the area and fell nicely at the feet of Pete Darke who seemed to have all the time in the world to pick his spot.

Alphington were soon in front after a very poor ball was played along the back line of the Galmpton defence that was intercepted and instantly played into the path of Pete Darke. He burst into the right hand side of the box and lifted the ball over the top of the diving Matt Conldon.

Every time Alphington got anywhere near the Galmpton goal they always seemed to have four or five players in attacking positions. One thirty yard effort by their number six Sean Abberley forced a good save out of the Galmpton keeper and their number ten Ryan Leverton really should have scored from just six yards out, but put his shot wide of the right hand post.

But he made no mistake when a complete defensive cock up gave him his next chance. It looked simple hands out and collect the ball by Galmptons keeper Matt Conldon but somehow he seemed to miss grabbing hold of the ball and it went behind him and Ryan Leverton ran behind him and fired the ball into the empty net.

Ryan then went onto get his second goal of the match and it came about after a long through ball was played to him from the halfway line. The Galmpton defence were caught flat footed and he simply burst past them and into the box and fired his shot across Matt Conldon into the far right hand corner of the goal.

The ref blew up for halftime and while in the clubhouse getting some warm food, one could hear just what the Galmpton manager thought of his teams first half performance. I’m not one to moan two much about referees, they do a difficult job, but sadly today’s ref was not at the races and let so many bad tackles go unpunished. At times he was clueless what to do and more than often did nothing at all when he really needed to be blowing up.

Galmpton came out for the second half intend on trying to get back into the game, but they seldom created any good goal scoring opportunities and left too many gaps at the back. Yet another good through ball was played deep into the Galmpton half and this time Tom Bath who had a very impressive game, toe punted the ball from the edge of the box into the back of the Galmpton net.

Tom Bath then added another goal after a low ball was played into the box from the left hand side of the pitch. The Alphington players were all queuing up in a line to get on the end of the ball, but it went past two of them to the back post where Tom was standing to fire home.

Then there was one of the biggest cock-ups I have ever witnessed in a game of football and the poor old ref did not have a clue what to do. The lineman had raised his flag for an offside against an Alphington player, but the ref never noticed the flag and did not blow up for the offence. The ball ran onto the Galmpton keeper who kicked the ball forward to a spot outside his area where he planned to take to kick. But the ball went straight to the feet of an Alphington player who hit it first time into the empty net. The referee pointed to the centre circle and then the protests started. In the end he went and talked to the linesman and then ruled out the goal.

The closest Galmpton came to getting a second goal was when Alex Bailess hit a great shot that resulted in Jack Mc Andrews pulling off one of the best saves of the match. The Galmpton defence then gave away another cheap goal as a result of another very poor clearance. The ball only went a few yards to Alphingtons Icelandic player Frans Gardarrson who raced into the box turning one way and then the other before firing a left foot shot across the keeper into the far right hand corner of the goal.

Frans then went and got goal number eight for his team after a great ball played him into the right hand side of the box again with the same end result. I asked at the beginning if Galmpton could have done anything better in this match, after now writing my match report I have come to the conclusion they could have defended a bit better than they did.

A great entertaining game of football and the better team won on the day, Galmpton maybe did not deserve to be beaten by such a high score, but credit has to be given to Alphington for playing to such a high standard and taking all their chances well.