21/02/2004
North East Amateur Challenge Shield 1st Round
IJLW Brazil
Wilkinson, Davison, Churchley, Kennedy (Robinson 75), Haigh, Hinks, McGowan, Greenwood, Mitchell (Thompson 60), Bull, Smith.
The early kick off time meant that Brazil had to start the match with just ten men. This gave Wardley the early advantage but the hosts battled well and the arrival of Jonny McGowan, after five minutes, gave them a boost. Wardley saw a lot of the ball but struggled to break through Brazil’s well organised defence. On the couple of occasions that Wardley did manage to get the ball beyond Brazil’s defence, Dave Churchley was always there to clear the danger. This enabled Brazil to play some quick counter-attacking football and they had a lot of dangerous breaks that were only stopped by the dubious offside flag of the referee’s assistant (Wardley’s manager).
By mid-way through the half, Brazil were dominating the match so it was no surprise when they took the lead. Matty Bull took full advantage of a poor defensive clearance as he hit a left-footed, 25 yard volley dipping, over the keeper, into the top corner. Before the break, Brazil very nearly doubled their advantage when Andy Greenwood’s corner was powerfully headed just wide of the post by Churchley.
The early chances of the second half all fell to Brazil and they should have put the result beyond any doubt. Paul Smith managed to beat the offside trap, and find himself one-on-one with the big Wardley goalkeeper, only for his attempted nutmeg to be blocked by the keeper’s feet. Two minutes later, Shaun Haigh picked up the ball on the half way line and set off on a great run deep into Wardley territory. After beating a couple of players he too just had the keeper to beat. Again, the keeper’s feet kept the ball out. Brazil’s third one-on-one in ten minutes fell to Tom Mitchell, after some good football had been played in the build up. Mitchell recovered the ball after the keeper’s feet had blocked his shot and played a nice square pass into Greenwood’s path. Greenwood didn’t give the keeper any chance of being a hero as he lifted the ball over the crossbar.
Brazil were soon rueing their missed chances as Wardley scored a spectacular, if not somewhat fortunate, equalizer, as a 40 yard punt forward just fell under the crossbar. Brazil should have been back in front minutes later but Greenwood’s breakaway goal was incorrectly disallowed for offside. At the other end, Wardley nearly took an undeserved lead when their shaggy-haired captain got clean through on goal. Lee Wilkinson managed to hold him up long enough for Churchley to get into a covering position and deny his opposition counterpart with a clearance off the line.
As the final quarter of an hour approached, the big talking point of the match occurred. Wardley’s striker was being shepherded away from goal but managed to finagle a penalty as he stumbled. The spot kick was well despatched into the corner but several Wardley players were in the area as it was taken. The goal was allowed to stand as Brazil’s protests fell on deaf ears. Brazil tried to force the game into extra time with some late efforts but they had already missed the best of their chances. Bull and Smith combined well to get to the edge of the box but the shot was blocked. McGowan met Greenwood’s corner but his header was saved comfortably. Bull hit a powerful left-footed shot on the turn but the angle was against him and the keeper was able to parry. Brazil’s goal scorer was, however, rewarded for his fine performance with the man of the match award.