Post by Dave on Jul 23, 2016 19:35:11 GMT
Preseason Friendly
Galmpton United V Elburton Villa
Carlsberg Peninsula Division One East V Division One West
Saturday 23rd July 2016…. Kick-Off 2pm
Venue……Galmpton Memorial Ground
Match Referee…. Alastair Muirden
Final Score Galmpton Utd 0 Elburton Villa 3
Preseason games are what they are and are not really a good indicator of how well a team will do in the coming season. When Tony Bowker took over as the Galmpton manager their results improved, but did fade away a bit near the end of the season. I’m sure Tony will be looking forward to his first full season in charge and would have set his targets on finishing at or near the top of the league.
Elburton Villa had been struggling in the Carlsberg Peninsula Premier Division for the last two seasons and it was no real surprise to see them get relegated last season along with Stoke Gabriel.
Stoke went into the Division One East and will face Galmpton in the league this season, Elburton Villa being a Plymouth based club, were put in the Division One West which is made up mostly of Cornish teams.
After a week of scorching temperatures we ended up with a slightly cooler day with a good deal of cloud cover, it was still around the 22 degree mark, but we did see temperatures as high as 30 degrees in the week.
Firstly my thanks to Tony Bowker and the Elburton club sec for taking the time to write out the names and number of the players fro me.
Its no wonder club managers get fed up with the lack of commitment at times from their players. Seventeen players told Tony this very morning they would be there to take part in the match and only twelve bothered to turn up. A poor show at this level and the club and the manager deserve much better than that.
On to the game and for most of it I thought neither team were ever going to score a goal. Plenty of effort and hard work from both sets of players, but chances were few and far between.
The first really good chance fell to Matt Barkwell who rose the highest and headed the ball with the keeper well beaten. Shouts for hand ball went up and the ball was somehow stopped from hitting the back of the net. Looking at one picture I have included below, it certainly looks like a defender got a hand to the ball. In fairness to the referee he would not have seen the handball from his position and the reason nothing was given.
Galmpton’s number 22 J. Chamberlain headed the ball towards to Elburton goal but could not get very much power into his header making it an easy save for the Villa keeper Jack Dixon.
Up the other end and Villa’s Jed Smale had a chance to put his side in front when the space was there on the edge of the Galmpton box to get a shot away, a shot that lacked any power and once again making the save easy for the keeper.
The next half decent chance fell to Elburton’s Matt Slinger who was in the left hand side of the box and headed a powerful header back across the goal that only just went wide of the right hand post.
I thought Galmpton were going to take the lead when S. Mc Gegor was played into the Elburton box with just the keeper to beat. He took his shot and somehow Jack Dixon managed to pull off a fine one handed save, blocking the ball from crossing the line.
Galmptons number 10 Chico who I saw play last season for another team( will have to look back through last seasons match reports) went in for a challenge out wide on the right and level with the box. He won that challenge and with the keeper coming steaming out, lifted a high ball over him that was just cleared off the line by a Elburton player.
Elburton’s Will Matthews had a great chance from inside the left hand side of the Galmpton box but shot wide in the end. The game was stopped as a Galmpton player did not get up after a strong challenge on him, he ended up being taken off the pitch on a stretcher, but I did see him after the game limping around, so nothing broken hopefully.
That was it for the first half and right at the very start of the second half that man Chico nearly put his side in front with a headed effort. With the heat and the fact no changes could be made by Tony Bowker, the Galmpton players started to tire a bit and slowly Elburton started to get on top.
Charlie Nichols went close, after a good run into the box, Jed Smale put his effort over the crossbar, but one sensed a goal was coming. The ball was in the box with the Galmpton keeper K. Griffiths near his left hand post. The ball was there to be claimed by him but he made the fatal error of waiting the for the ball to come to him. He put out his hands but Den Douglas the Villa captain stuck out a leg and steered the ball past the keeper into the back of the net.
Galmpton’s central defender Richard Whatman was really struggling with a leg injury and as a result the ball bounced over him and played in Kevin Yetton who just had the keeper to beat, But the Galmpton keeper pulled off a fine save.
Seconds later Richard Whatman limped off the field and Galmpton were down to ten men. It was no surprise Galmpton were now very empty at the back and went two goals behind when Jacob Smale had a simple tap in close in on goal.
A minute later it was three nil when Jacob Smale made a neat run into the box and coolly slotted the ball past the keeper just inside the right hand post.
An enjoyable game to watch and one that might have had a different outcome if the Galmpton manager was able to put out his chosen eleven and not just the eleven who turned up.
Great to see Foxhole George at the game and looking so well.
