Belli Cup Dartmouth AFC V Waldon Athletic 2nd April 2016

[Dave]

George Belli Cup Semi Final

Dartmouth AFC V Waldon Athletic

Saturday 2nd April 2016 Kick-Off 2pm

Venue Long cross Dartmouth

Match Referee Alastair Muirden

Final Score at fulltime Dartmouth AFC 1 Waldon Athletic 1 after extra time Dartmouth 1 Waldon 2

Today was semi-final day in the George Belli Cup and I would have liked to have watched both of them, but as that was not possible I decided to cover the Dartmouth AFC V Waldon Athletic semi-final.

The other semi-final was between Buckland Athletic 2nds and Upton Athletic, two teams I have already seen in action in the George Belli Cup. To reach the semi-final Upton beat Stoke Gabriel 2nds five nil at the G J Chuchward Memorial Ground.

Match Report Here

davesworld.proboards.com/thread/549/belli-stoke-gabriel-upton-march

Buckland Athletic 2nds met Brixham AFC 2nds at Wall park and were not at their best, they did win the game by three goals to one in the end, but Brixham took them into extra time when the score was one all after ninety minutes. With another poor performance by Buckland in the final of the Herald Cup against Waldon Athletic (they lost one nil) Upton would have fancied their chances today.

Match Report Here

davesworld.proboards.com/thread/550/belli-buckland-2nds-brixham-19th



In the first round of the George Belli Cup, Dartmouth AFC were at home against Kingsteignton Athletic, they won this game by a staggering score line of nine goals to nil. They were at home again in the semi-final against Ivybridge Town 2nd, again they won impressively this time by five goals to nil.

Both Watcombe Wanderers and Waldon Athletic had a bye in the first round setting up a semi-final between the two clubs that was played at the King George V Playing Field. Waldon ended up wining the game by two goals to one, a great result for them and just six days later they won the Herald Cup Final.

Dartmouth’s home game last Saturday against Kingsteignton Athletic ended up being abandoned due to the weather, the week before they rather surprisingly failed to score away to improving Kingskerswell & Chelston, the final score was nil nil.

Dartmouth AFC has a good chance of winning the league title this season and would most certainly like to win the league cup as well. Waldon’s league position of ninth in the table is a false one I believe, due to only playing eleven league games in total so far this season. With the Herald Cup in the bag, could Waldon Athletic add the George Belli Cup to their trophy cabinet?




This Seasons Herald Cup Winning Side Waldon Athletic

Photo by Andy Styles

This game was the very best advert for the South Devon League, it had it all and the last period of extra time was the most exciting action football I have witnessed for years. Waldon fully deserved their victory, but they were made to work hard for it by a strong hardworking and determined Dartmouth.

The old stand with the dressing rooms in it might look old and tired, but what a great venue Longcross is to host South Devon League football, a great pitch and it even has its own car park.

The game got underway and the first half chance fell to Dartmouth’s Josh Webber who took a free kick just outside of the Waldon box, but his effort went wide of the target. The next chance fell to a Waldon player Spike Bond who hit a good clean shot from the edge of the box that just went wide of the left hand post.

Waldon were playing the better passing football and Dartmouth always seemed to be a yard behind, but it was Dartmouth who came close to taking an early lead. Some great play by Charlie Smith who had a cracking game, saw him fire across the goal line from a tight angle on the left of the goal. The ball only needed a tap in but there was no Dartmouth player close enough to turn the ball over the line. The ball ended coming out to the edge of the Waldon box and was hit first time well over by Mark Forrester.

Waldon then thought they had taken the lead when the Dartmouth keeper Ryan Walton dived low to try and claw the ball back from going behind for a corner. All he managed to do was scoop the ball back into play where it was fired home into the back of the net. The referee did not signal that he had given the goal as from his position he clearly saw the had ball crossed the line before the keeper brought it back into play. The Dartmouth lineman had his flag up and the referee went over and had a chat with him, the lineman just confirmed what the referee already knew. The Waldon players thought the goal had been disallowed because of the linesman, but that was not the case.

Dartmouth’s Josh Webber was the first player to find his name going into the referees note book, he hacked Waldon’s Daniel Harrity from behind in the Waldon box. Dartmouth then conceded a free kick on the halfway line and a few of their players felt it was OK to start pushing a few of the Waldon players, it was all just handbags that thankfully ended as quickly as it had started.

Just before the break Waldon’s Josh Briscombe had his name taken and from the resulting free kick Mark Forrester hit the ball sweetly and forced a fine low down saving save by Kit Glanville who managed to turn the ball around the post and behind for a corner.

The half came to and end and we were soon being treated to much more action, Waldon’s Ashley Harris got clattered hard very early on and there were concerns he might have broken his leg. Thankfully that was not the case and he was sportingly carried of by some Dartmouth players.

Waldon’s Liam Gatting tried his luck from all of twenty five yards, but the shot lacked any real power to trouble the Dartmouth keeper. Waldon came close again to opening up the scoring after a great run down the left hand side by Chris Harrity, but he could not keep his shot down and had to stand and watch it fly over the crossbar.

But seconds later Waldon did take the lead and there seemed no real danger until Spike Bond burst into the Dartmouth box centrally and hit a crisp low shot into the back of the net, the goal was coming and fully deserved.

Dartmouth started to hit the ball longer always trying to play in Josh Webber, one such ball saw him clean in on goal, but he was off balance when he hit his shot that ended up going well wide of the left hand post.

I do not normally name a man of the match, but due to some amazing defending as Dartmouth tried hard to get back into the game, I have broken that rule and name Daniel Harrity. He was always where he needed to be and won so many important tackles.

Josh Webber was in the left hand side of the Waldon box again and his shot come cross was tipped up by the Waldon keeper and the ball dropped the back post but Ryan Frost was unable to get the ball into the back of the net.

Dartmouth were looking the more likely of the two sides to get the next goal and it was no real surprise it was scored by Josh Webber. A high ball was fired over and in behind the Waldon defence for Josh to try and get on the end of. The keeper came rushing out and looked favourite to win the ball but Josh got there first and headed the ball home.

The ref blew up for fulltime and extra time had to be played and I was unsure at this time which way the game would go. Waldon’s Brian Doughty had a shot blocked in the Dartmouth box and the ball fell at the feet of Josh Briscombe who hit it just past the left hand post..

Dartmouth started to run out of pace a bit and Waldon were back on top again and it was not too long before they were back in front again. A great long ball caught out a rather static Dartmouth defence and Chris Harrity burst into the box and fired an unstoppable shot into the back of the net.

The first half of extra time came to an end and it looked like Waldon were going to hold onto the win and be in their second cup final this season, Dartmouth were throwing everything at the Waldon defence and then the referees whistle went and he pointed to the spot. Waldon’s Jordan Piercy was on the edge of the box and grabbed a Dartmouth player, turning him and throwing him to the floor. The spot kick was taken by Ryan frost who crashed his effort onto the crossbar.

That was the last chance for Dartmouth and I could still hear those Waldon players celebrating in their dressing room as I got back into my car to head to catch the ferry home.

This was the best game I have watched all season, a game that could have got out of control at anytime but thankfully didn’t, mainly due to the excellent job done by the man in the middle.