Wallasey Oval v AFC Wallasey Town, local derby Match Report 7/9/14. Make a cuppa, get a biscuit and tell your partner to give you 10minutes. GK: Jay OConnor DL: Tom Freeman (c) DR: Mike Cunningham DC: Mark Cullimore DC: Neil Sargent DM: Dave Sullivan MC: Adam Hanaghan MC: Matty Morris LW: Lee Davey RW: Ste Greene CF: Ben Speed After the below par performance on Thursday, AFC turned up on Sunday morning at the home of football with an opportunity to put things right straight away. Our opponents were high flying Wallasey Oval, based at Wallasey Cricket Club. As a sensible match reporter, there will no attempts at comedy references to Cricket during this report. Im sure its a lovely game. Luckily today was sunny, so Oval felt the game could start and was most likely going to be completed as there was no forecast for dangerous rain. The umpire duly got the game underway and the local derby had begun. Town welcomed back Ben Speed from injury, playing a lone roll up front and it would be key to the tactics to see if he had fully recovered. In a close opening section of the game Ben took a couple of heavy challenges from the Oval defenders who struggled to live with his pace. But Oval are top of the league for a reason and with a talented and youthful side, they are maybe the ones to watch. So it was no surprise to the form book when Oval managed to convert from a spell of good pressure when a back post header was knocked into the goal past the diving OConnor. 1-0 OVAL. Defeated in the last match and now losing 1-0 to the top of the table side, how would Wallasey react? ... Perfectly. A tremendous ball from Freeman found Lee Davey in the Oval area and he fizzed a cross which just evaded Hanaghan for what would have been a tap into an empty net. But the pressure came again down the left just a few minutes later with the ball again falling towards Hanaghan. This time he was able to calmly take the ball under control and cooly fire it into the roof of the net for a brilliant finish ! 1-1 ! The game was now getting a bit feisty and the Oval defence were struggling to contain Speed and continued to foul him. But when the ball fell to him at the edge of a crowded area he had time to unleash a low drive into the bottom corner!! 2-1 Wallasey Town!! A really important goal and the Town players celebrated with Speed who was proving to be a nightmare for the Oval back line. Oval were clearly not used to being behind and lost some discipline both on the pitch and on the touch line. After another poor challenge on Speed there was almost an altercation between the two players but luckily the players were kept apart and common sense prevailed, with the referee speaking to several players to remind them of the rules and calm the situation down. A nasty foul on Speed shortly afterwards meant an overdue booking and a free-kick in a dangerous position. Lee Davey has the left foot of a pro and from 20 yards will always trouble wicketkeepers, so he placed the ball down, lined up the shot and arched a delightful curler into the top left corner! Great goal!! 3-1 Wallasey! In case youre wondering why he isnt an actual pro, his right foot is made of sponge. Ovals set-piece play was exceptional and some superb crosses into the box had to be defended well by Cullimore and Sargent. The new formation, with Sullivan playing as a holding midfielder, was working well. Everything was being mopped up or intercepted, allowing Morris and Hanaghan to attack centrally and attack-minded full backs Freeman and Cunningham to see plenty of the ball. Its been agreed that the gates of Central Park will be closed during AFC games in future as Cunninghams charges forward are starting to have a Forrest Gump-esque look of being simply unstoppable ! His opposite number genuinely pleaded with him to slow down. As ever Ste Greene tucks in to cover these glorious exhibitions of athleticism and on the other flank Freeman races back to cover himself as sponge foot doesnt do tracking back. What he does do though Is tear you apart and he was the best player of the pitch during the first period. The ref blew to signal HT and the Town players came in for some water while Oval broke for lunch. The second half was going to be tough, Oval heads were still up and they began to attack straight from the whistle. With just a few minutes gone they pulled one back with a calm finish into the far left corner of the goal, 3-2 Wallasey Town.... Again, its a test of mentality when a team concedes and the Oval heads were up. How did Town respond? ..... You guessed it. A through-ball found Speed in a central left position and he beat the outcoming keeper to it, but that sent him further wide and towards the touch line , but somehow he took the ball under control and slotted into the net from a seemingly impossible angle !! 4-2 Town !!! This was a massive goal for Town and Oval did start to let their heads drop. The referee was forced to have an extended chat with the Oval touch line as they continued to argue with decisions made. Their team followed suit. It felt like role-reversal because Wallasey Town learned a valuable lesson in midweek about concentrating on the match and were seeing the benefits. Its just not cricket. A sad moment for Sunday League football occurred when the more than decent set piece taker for Oval made a rare error with a free kick and collected the ball again, only to knock it five yards and dive. Queue stunned silence and looks of shock on faces as a small piece of tumbleweed made its way across the pitch, and then the game continued. Freeman was cautioned for a late challenge on an Oval player as their fitness and ability continued to cause Town problems. The Oval touch line were irate - they wanted a red card , which they had every right to shout for. Not because it was a red card tackle, but because he was having a superb game and had a winger in his pocket. With 20 20 minutes remaining, there was still time for Oval to mount another comeback attempt but after another free flowing move resulted in the Oval keeper parrying a shot and the on rushing Ste Greene slid in to finish the move off! 5-2 Wallasey Town! With a few minutes remaining the Tail Ender scored an excellent consolation for Oval to make it 5-3. It was a great goal and it was that, rather than the actual score, that was reflected in his delighted celebration. Wallasey attacked for the last few minutes and Speed was denied a hat-trick by the post and the crossbar and then post again stopped Wallasey for making it 6...Ovals favourite number. A tense encounter was brought to a close and in the right spirit of the game both sides shook hands and complimented each other on what was a very decent game of football. The atmosphere back in the Pavillion was the total opposite to Thursdays and as discussed in the last report, it sometimes takes a low-point to inspire a team and it makes the highs feel so rewarding. Watch out for Oval, no doubt theyll also look to bounce back quickly and they have a good side and a boisterous touch line that will see more victories than defeats this season. If someone asked me which was my favourite out of Speeds two goals, itd be hard to chose - as Botham were very good. Im here all week. FORZA Wallasey !!
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 17:29:53 +0000
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