Match Report 3rd Nov 07 by David Carter (DC)

 Winnersh Rangers Jaguars 0 - 14 Binfield FC

EBYFL Cup - Round 1
A mild sunny day welcomed the teams onto the dewy pitch at Bearwood.  Winnersh, a team new to us as they normally play in EBYFL Division 3, were unable to field a full team owing to sickness and a short notice school rugby match that left them with just 9 players.  Binfield were able to field a squad of 14 which gave them a significant advantage, but to counter this Binfield were being managed on the day by a stand-in pair of coaches!
 
With no room for complacency, the starting eleven was a strong line-up but with a number of players experiencing unfamiliar positions and roles, leaving Ben, Chris and Jacob on the subs bench for the first 20 minutes.
 
As could be expected with their numerical advantage, Binfield saw a great deal of possession in the openings minutes, Mark being involved in plenty of action in his midfield role and it was his through ball that released Lordy to open the scoring within 2 minutes.  In the 4th minute Mark got his name on the score sheet with a long shot that left the goalie with no chance.  2-0
 
Once again Mark was involved in the build up to the third, the goalie stopped Mark’s attempt but Nathan today playing a striker’s role followed up well and slotted home for his first and Binfield’s 3rd.
 
The next goal was something of a solo effort from TC who picked the ball up on the left flank and headed for goal, aimed to the side of the goalie who did well to parry it, but TC got to the rebound first and slotted it home with his right foot to make it 4-0 after 8 minutes.
 
Binfield soon regained possession and Lordy made a great run on the right, fired in an excellent cross which Nathan connected with superbly and was unlucky not to score when the ball went just wide of the post.
 
To their great credit, Winnersh were fighting hard and for nearly 10 minutes held Binfield in a midfield battle, until Lordy picked up the ball on the half way line and burst forward in characteristic style to unleash a shot from the edge of the penalty area which went just wide.
 
It wasn’t long before the next goal came, with Lordy feeding Nathan who calmly slotted home his second to make it 5-0 with 15 minutes gone.  Soon after a round of substitutions followed, with Ben (W), Chris and Jacob coming on in place of Lordy, Mark and Oliver respectively.  Ben and Chris were soon involved in the action and following something of a goalmouth melee where it looked like Ben would score the ball came out to Chris who coolly lobbed the goalie to make it 6-0.
 
Binfield’s defenders had had a relatively quiet time in the opening 20 minutes, but with Binfield deep in the opposition half the back four were able to push up and it was from such a situation that the ball came out to Lewis and he struck in a fierce shot from nearly 30 yards which went very close!
 
Nathan thought he had notched up his hat-trick when he nipped through the Winnersh defensive line to score, but the goal was disallowed for offside.  Was he really offside or was it the linesman (Nathan’s Dad Martin) trying to save himself a couple of quid? 
 
Another chance a few minutes later when a nice 1-2 on the left hand side between TC and Alex released TC to press into the box and a good shot from him brought a great save from the Winnersh goalie.  This started a good spell for Winnersh who were showing great spirit and resilience, but the solid Binfield defence were holding them at bay and Matthew in goal had little to do.
 
With half time looming, Jacob on one of his forward forays from defence played a neat give and go with TC who returned a pinpoint pass which with characteristic aplomb Jacob slotted wide of the keeper to make it 7-0. Half-time Binfield 7-0 up.
 
The second half began with more changes to the line-up.  Michael “volunteered” to go in goal to give Sibs a chance in the outfield, the back four consisted of TC, Lordy, Sibs and Jacob, the midfield populated by Mark, Nathan, Oliver and Alex, and the frontline made up of Ben and Chris.
 
Ben was causing plenty of problems for the Winnersh defence, and within the first five minutes of the start of the second half he made two skilful runs, twisting and turning through the opposition and on both occasions beating to goalie to score Binfield’s 8th and 10th goals.  In between, Chris did some great work on the right wing, beating two defenders with pace and skill and put a cross in to Alex on the edge of the 6 yard box, who turned quickly and fired in a powerful shot to make it 9-0.
 
More subs and positional changes were made to the line up in order to give as fair a share of pitch time as possible, and to give players the chance to experience the challenges of playing in unfamiliar positions.  Ross who had had an excellent 1st half playing in midfield came on to exhibit more of the same, Dev joined the midfield and made good use of the extra space that the Barracudas numerical supremacy offered.
 
The eleventh goal was scored by Mark from around 6 yards out with an assist by Nathan.  Ben was looking for his hat-trick and it looked like he’d got it as the half way point of the 2nd half approached.  His long shot though was well stopped by the Winnersh goalie, who despite having to retrieve the ball from his net on numerous occasions had made a lot of good saves and displayed good judgement.  More changes to the Binfield line-up meant a rest for Mark and Ben, putting TC up front with Jacob who was “very keen” to play in attack for a while.  Lewis once again fed a good ball through to TC whose shot yielded another great save from their goalie.  Another of those comical goalmouth scrambles soon ensued and Oliver’s shot was unlucky not to find the back of the net.
 
Just a couple of minutes later Alex scored his second of the match with a powerful shot to make it 12-0 with about 5 minutes to go.
 
A few minutes of concerted Winnersh pressure followed, and only a desperate 2-stage save by Michael prevented them scoring.  The counter attack saw good work by Nathan on the left, passing through to TC who got a decent shot in which the goalie parried, but Jacob was there in his predatory role to turn the rebound in, 13-0.
 
From the resulting kick-off Winnersh pushed forward and with their striker through and seemingly only Michael to beat, Chris chased after him executed a perfectly timed tackle to rob him of the ball.  Seconds later and Chris is at the other end of the pitch, and with virtually the last kicks of the match again did some great work on the right and got a cross in to Jacob who calmly slotted home for his hat-trick and to put Binfield 14-0 up. 
 
Full-time: Winnersh Rangers Jaguars 0 – 14 Binfield Barracudas
 
Man of the Match: Although it would be easy to give the award to the goal scorers, the MotM this week went to Ross who made the most of his opportunity and played very well in the midfield.  He was always looking for space when the pitch tended to become congested, and was always looking for best option when he had the ball.  Well done Ross, and bad luck to Ben, Chris and Nathan who I think also had exceptional games.
 
We must pay tribute to the opposition who never gave up; they played with great spirit and attitude and were in all honestly deserving of a goal.  I’m sure the match would have been quite different if they had had a full squad on the day.
 
Also, I’d like to commend the Binfield players for their attitude on the pitch.  All players were happy to play where asked and special praise to those that gave up their usual positions to let others play where they wouldn’t normally get the chance. 
 
Sorry about the length of the report but there was a lot to get in!  I’m off to the shops now to buy a new notepad.
 
Team: Nathan, Lordy, Lewis, Dev, Mark, Ross, TC, Alexander, Michael, Oliver, Matthew, Chris, Ben W and Jacob
 

Note from Jon: Many Thanks to David and Tiernan for running the team this week.