15/02/2003
North East Amateur Shield Quarter Final

IJLW Brazil
Andrew, Paterson, Churchley, Kennedy, Davison, Hinks, Toms, P Clark, Haigh, Gavan, R McClure.

In a bizarre mix-up, the fixture was switched to Brazil’s Winlaton ground, on the morning of the match, but was still counted as a home match for Rutherford. The late arrival of the referee delayed the start but Brazil, boosted by the return of influential midfielder Paul Clark, were confident having already completed a league double over their opponents. The hard frozen layer on top of the pitch soon gave way to the sticky mud underneath, once the match got going.

Rutherford started well and had a lot of useful possession in the Brazil half but couldn’t get a decent opening. Brazil were counter attacking quickly and looked likeliest to open the scoring, as long as their defence could hold out. And that’s exactly what happened. Rutherford were pushing forward and Brazil won possession and broke quickly. Clark played a clever one two with Ricky McClure then threaded it through to Andrew Gavan who nonchalantly clipped it over the advancing keeper with his weaker foot. The lead didn’t last long though and it was almost inevitable that Rutherford’s sustained pressure would pay off eventually. The striker latched onto a through ball and shot low into the far corner. This seemed to give Brazil a wake up call and they didn’t allow Rutherford to have as much of the ball. Steve Toms, remembering his 40-yard winner against Rutherford earlier in the season, tried a long-range effort. This time it was on his left foot though, and he couldn’t keep it down enough. Gavan and McClure were both denied by the keeper, who was extremely quick to come off his line. Brazil managed to put Rutherford under pressure for a while and it was Rutherford who were having to attack on the break. It was during this period though that Rutherford came close to taking the lead. Their goal scorer was through but his second touch was just too heavy and allowed Al Andrew to come out and clear. Just after this, Dave Churchley met Clark’s corner from the right. He couldn’t get up quite high enough though and the ball was flicked on to McClure. McClure took a couple of touches and squared it to Churchley who had retreated outside the area. Churchley got a good connection on his shot and the keeper, unsighted by all the bodies in the box, was beaten but it was a couple of inches too high.

Brazil were the better side at the beginning of the second half and the next goal came against the run of play. With quarter of an hour gone, a clearance by Andrew, who had collected a long ball over the top, struck the back of the retreating forward and fell kindly to the centre midfielder who volleyed it into the unguarded net before Andrew had managed to get back. This began a bad spell for Brazil. Before the second half was halfway through, Brazil found themselves 3-1 down. A low cross was curled in from the Brazil left. Ewan Paterson stayed goal side of the only forward in the box and the ball went between Paterson and Andrew before curling in at the back post.

With 20 minutes remaining, Brazil took the gamble of going to three at the back and pushing Paterson into a free role to try to give their attacks some more creativity. It seemed to work and, although Brazil were often left one on one at the back, they were a much stronger force going forward. A 60-yard run by Gary Davison came to a disappointing end with a weak cross but at least it was an example of the effort that was required to give Brazil a chance of progressing in the competition. Toms was excellent in the middle of the pitch and Jon Hinks seemed like a different player after an anonymous first half performance. Brazil were improving but Rutherford wouldn’t allow them any time on the ball. They made sure that they would stop the player whether they got the ball or not. Brazil did create chances though, the best of which fell to McClure but he blasted over from eight yards out. Shaun Haigh made no mistake from even closer range as he headed in a lovely deep cross from Hinks but, by then, it was too late for Brazil to rescue the game.