SWPL Div 1 East Brixham AFC V Liverton Utd 20th August 2016

[Dave]

Carlsberg Southwest Peninsula League Division One East

SWPL Div 1 East Brixham AFC V Liverton Utd 20th August 2016

Saturday 20th August 2016 Kick-Off 3pm

Venue Wall Park Brixham

Match Referee Keith Mann Referees assistants Dave Davey & Phil Hodge

Final Score Brixham AFC 5 Liverton United 0

The Battle of the Justin’s, The Battle of the Jason’s

Jason V Ginge

Match Preview

Both Brixham and Liverton have made good starts in the new season and a win for either team today with other results going their way, could see one of them topping the table come 5pm.

Brixham’s first game of the season was home to Exwick Villa a game they won by four goals to two. Due to players leaving their first team, Exwick were forced to withdraw their second team from the Devon & Exeter League. Many of those players have had to be promoted to the first team and they could end up struggling this season. Reece Somers scored twice with Kieran Parkin and Graham Mercieca getting the other two goals for Brixham in a game Exwick played surprisingly well.

In midweek Brixham entertained Teignmouth AFC who won their first game 3-1 at Sidmouth Town and the Brixham manager Jason Couch knew they would be tougher opponents than Exwick were. The final score was three all, they may have conceded three goals at home, but Brixham certainly have goals in them and could do very well this season.

Liverton faced troubled Galmpton at home for their first game of the season beating them by three goals to nil Sean Finch scored two and made the other goal, he seems to be a very good signing for Liverton.

Midweek Liverton earned another good point in a one all draw at home against Alphington, a game the manager Justin Yates felt they would have lost last season. A good result as both Sean Finch and Scott Beattie were absent due to injury, Liverton’s goal was scored by Connor Stewart.

It was reported the Sean Finch would be 100% fit for this game against Brixham, How well would the Brixham defence cope with him and how well would Liverton defend against the goal threat that Brixham possess?

On paper this game looked very likely to be a high scoring affair, but would the very high winds and heavy rain showers turn the game into a rather damp squid.


Match Report

On today’s showing Brixham AFC look the team to beat in the Division East and if they continue to play the way they did today, you can expect them to finish the season very high up the table.

Sean Finch hardly got a kick of the ball during the whole of the first half as Brixham dominated the play and were in full control of the match the second the referee blew his whistle to get the game underway.

It was a very windy day at Wall Park, but thankfully the rain stayed away and apart from a few kicks going wayward from the keepers, the wind had no effect on the game what so ever.

The first half chance of the match fell to a Liverton player when the game was only minutes old. A Good ball played in Coner Stewart down the left hand side of the pitch, but he put his shot just wide of the left hand post.

We did not have to wait to long for Brixham to take the lead, a good long ball from the back was met on the edge of the Liverton area by Graham Merceica. Simon Primmer the Liverton keeper had rushed to the edge of his box and had one of his own defenders for company. But Graham cleverly hooked the ball over the pair of them and into the back of the net.

It was soon two nil to Brixham after they won a free kick that was fired into the back post, the ball was headed down and back across the goal mouth for Graham Merceica to fire a hard low shot past the Liverton keeper.

It was all one way with wave after wave of Brixham attacks, Kieran Parkin nearly added to his sides lead when he hit a good low shot from a tight angle inside the left hand side of the Liverton box that only just went behind the right hand post.

Three nil and a hat trick for man of the match Graham Merceica, this time heading the ball home at the back post after a free kick was taken out on the right hand side.

It was starting to look all to easy for Brixham and and the only question was how many more goals were they going to score and could Justin Yates get his players playing better in the second half.

The referee blew up to end the half and at the restart Liverton started to play a bit better, but sadly it did not last very long and they could have gone even further behind when Dave Worthington was played in on a one on one with the keeper. Simon Primmer did well to block the shot.

Sean Finch was growing noticeably more frustrated as the game wore on and decided to have a go at the Brixham linesman who had flagged for a goal kick that was over ruled by the match referee.

He then ran after a player who had the ball at his feet and hacked him down from behind and was rightly shown the yellow card. Justin Yates made a change out on the pitch and this also seemed to upset Sean Finch who now wanted to have a go at his manager.

Brixham broke away on the halfway line and a first time ball had Graham Merceica bearing down on goal with just the keeper to beat, but once Simon Primmer pulled of a fine blocking save.

Liverton were working hard and trying to get back into the game, Jamie Down hit a powerful twenty yard shot that was well held by the Brixham keeper Ryan Walton.

Brixham then went four goals up after a very good move down the right hand side played in Reece Somers who hit a clean low shot across the keeper into the back of the net.

Shortly after this uninjured Sean Finch walked off the pitch as he clearly did not want to take any further part in the match. I have watched Sean play a number of times, he is a very good player, but sorry he let himself down a bit today in my book.

Liverton’s Connor Stewart hit a cracking shot from just outside the area that was only just pushed around his post and behind for a corner by Ryan Walton. To compound their misery Liverton then gave away a penalty that was taken by Graham Merceica who made no mistake with his spot kick.

I knew Brixham were a side that had plenty of goals in it, but I was a bit disappointed with Liverton’s display. They do have a number of good players that are very eye-catching on the ball and they all worked hard enough. It might just have been a bad day at the office for them. They could have so easily been beaten by a much higher scoreline, but thanks to some good saves from their keeper and a few misses by the Brixham forwards, it ended up just five nil.

It was an entertaining game to watch, but the biggest afternoon’s entertainment was being close to Jason Cough who says the most funniest things imaginable, if he ever gives up being a football manager, there is a spot waiting for him at the comedy club.