SDFL Div 5 Barton Athletic V Moretonhampstead 22nd Nov 2014

[Dave]

South Devon Football League Division Five

Barton Athletic V Moretonhampstead

Saturday 22nd November 2014 Kick-Off 2.30pm

Venue Barton Downs 2 Referee Anton Gardner

Final Score Barton Athletic 6 Moretonhamstead 3

Sorry for not using some names in my report, if the SDL did their team sheets correctly, I would have been able too.

I had to come home and check the SDL website just to confirm this really was a division five game I watched this afternoon. Fantastic game of football that only proved just how high the standard of local football has progressed. The passing and movement particularly from the Barton players, was a joy to watch and one could be forgiven for thinking you were watching a game from the premier division.

I was expecting a game with plenty of goals in it and I was not let down, as both teams enjoyed big wins in their last league games. The pitch was rather soggy to say the least, but playable and did not effect the game in any shape or form.

Barton was just too good for Moretonhampstead and outplayed them all over the park, Moretonhampstead did have their moments and there was a period in the second half a big comeback looked on the cards. But to the Barton player’s credit, they scored a few more goals to see off any Moretonhampstead threat.

The game was only seconds old when referee Anton Gardner decided to get his yellow card out of his pocket and book a Moretonhampstead player It was not that bad a challenge and it was the first one of the game, I felt the booking was rather harsh so early in the game. It was the only card he did show,( unless I missed any) there were a few occasions later in the game I would have expected to see a card produced, but it did not happen.

Barton started the game as they finished it, well on top and their number nine had the first chance to score but had to watch his header go just over the crossbar. They look an early lead when number ten (number eight on the team sheet) Anthony Jones turned neatly in the Moretonhampstead box and hit an unstoppable shot past Aden Messer.

Anthony Jones who was my man of the match them got his second goal for Barton, again it was a quality finish from a quality player. Moretonhampstead’s first real chance was a good strike from their number two from the edge of the Barton box that only just cleared the crossbar.

Moretonhampstead thought they had scored after a wonderful free kick was taken on the edge of the Barton box by Darren Bastow. Lawrence Purdie got a hand to the ball and pushed in up onto the underside of his crossbar. The ball bounced down and back into the field of play again, but did it cross he line? I have a sequence of eight pictures and while I was not at the best angle, it does look like it did cross the line. In fairness to the referee, he did look towards the lineman who would have had a better angle than him, but the lineman kept his flag down.

Goal number three was a wonder goal scored by Neil Thomas, the way he celebrated after scoring, suggested it was a rare goal for him, but I might be wrong. Out wide on the right hand side he turned towards goal and hit a shot (was it meant as a cross? ) that flew into the far top corner of the goal.

Halftime came and Barton was very worthy for their lead, how would Moretonhampstead respond in the second half? Well they very soon pulled a goal back, a neat shot by their number ten Darren Siwiec from just inside the left hand side of the Barton box.

But they soon found they faced an even harder uphill battle when Graham Collins got goal number four for Barton. It came just after that man Jones hit a sweet free kick that forced a fine save out of Adam Messer.

Moretonhampstead kept working hard and their number seven Rui de Garces , who had a very good game for them, scored their second goal. He had to deal with two Barton defenders trying to steal the ball off him, but he beat them both and fired in a low shot just inside the right hand post.

Barton then won a penalty that you would have put money on Anthony Jones scoring from, but he didn't as Aden Messer guessed the right way and made a fine save.

Barton were passing the ball well and a very neat build up down the left hand side put Jody? Rooney in the box. The angle was a bit tight but he got his shot away that seems to have hit a defenders head on its way in. (see pictures)

So the score now stood at five goals to two and it was not over yet, I thought it was Anthony Jones who got goal number six for Barton, but looking at my pictures I believe it was the player wearing the number eleven shirt.

The best goal of the match was saved for last, a fantastic strike from 25 yards out by Moretonhampstead’s best player Rui de Garces.

Really enjoyed today’s match and so glad I choose this one to report on. Even got to say hello to my mate Nick the referee and it was good to see there were no hard feelings between us after my comments in a match report I did last month.

Barton will I’m sure rise up through the divisions as they are a good club that is run very well.

[Dave]

Were Moretonhampstead robbed of a first half goal? Looking at the pictures I took my first thoughts is yes. It’s amazing just how fast a football can move, my camera is set to take six pictures at eleven frames a second. But even that is not fast enough to catch the split second the ball hits the ground and that shot may have given the answer better.

Shot two shows the ball coming down behind the keeper and the ball looks well behind the line. It should be remembered that the shots were taken using a zoon lens which does tend to compress things a little. With that in mind I would have not expected to see the ball so far behind the keeper, but then angles can sometimes be deceptive.

The referee standing outside of the box and with players close in on goal, had no chance of seeing if the ball was over the line or not. One goal would not have changed the final outcome of the game, but could have made a more interesting first half for Moretonhampstead.

The last picture is the end of the players protests at the ref for not giving the goal

[Dave]

Ted the manager of Mortonhampstead had this to say about his teams performance on the South Devon Soccer Forum


On the day Barton were excellent but we were well off our usual standard.

As for Daz's free kick that hammered the crossbar and came down on the goal line, there is no way the ref can award it from his position. Only the Barton lino can give it and he said no. In fairness our sub Stuart Webb was also in line and agreed it didn't go in. I did make a first half substitution because of our performance. I rarely do that but I felt it was necessary.

Half time was 3-0 to Barton and rightly so. Finished 6-3. No complaints apart from at some of our players. Hopefully they'll look at this as an opportunity to learn from their mistakes. Hopefully I can improve some attitudes for next week's game at Newton Rovers Reserves and the week after when we face Staverton in the County Cup Quarter-Final.

Well done to Barton.