Match Report

OLD BOYS CLAPHAM 4-0 CHESSINGTON K.C.

Henderson 11, 39
Belk 58
Walsh 90

Larkhall Park

2pm kick off

ref: Cliff Agnol

Man of the match: 6. Hendo
(These match reports are biased, one sided and probably inaccurate)

Marc Henderson’s first half brace helped see Old Boys Clapham into the Surrey County Cup Semi-Final. Henderson headed OBC in front in the eleventh minute in a very tight first half but it was Henderson who turned home an Ian Walsh flick from a corner which saw OBC double their lead five minutes before half time. Chessington’s fifteen match winning streak came to an abrupt end at Larkhall Park as Matt Belk hit his 32^nd goal of the season with a neat finish as he rounded the keeper after a defence splitting pass from Cian McGuire. Chessington never got going and failed to test OBC stopper Steve Harman in the second half. Ian Walsh wrapped up proceedings after rounding the keeper and finishing from a tight angle with the last kick of the game. It was a tale of two halves as OBC were clinical in the first half whilst being scrappy but then controlled and composed in the second half to see the game out as OBC improved after the break. Elsewhere it was not so good news as OBC 2XI failed to overcome Division Two side Tooting Bec in the Geoff Ellis Intermediate Semi Final going down 3-1 after Andy Cochrane had given OBC a first half lead.
In County Cup action OBC were back to full strength today as Grant Burke, Ian Walsh and Mark Kelly all returned to action after missing last week’s 4-2 win over Westside in Division One. In goal Steve Harman continued. Across the back were Alex Whelan, Idjiwa Adjido, Grant Burke and Marc Henderson. Across midfield were Charlie Horner, Cian McGuire, Ian Walsh and Andy Dundas. Mike Breen reverted to second striker alongside skipper Matt Belk. On the bench today was Adam Peters, Dean Barrett, Mark Kelly and Emmett Shingler.

Chessington KC of the Kingston & District Premier Division were on a fifteen game winning streak coming into the game and they started full of confidence as OBC were on the back foot for the opening ten minutes as OBC struggled to clear our lines with Idjiwa standing out as culprit in chief of unforced errors to the point where even the opposition were saying target the left back. Thankfully Idjiwa who was having an off start due to running around for new boots before the game after his mother-in-law did the cardinal sin of throwing his boots out!! Nevertheless our man from Benin recovered and got better through the half and managed to pick up a man of the match nomination.

The opening goal came with OBC’s first attack of the game on eleven minutes when Belk’s throw into the box was met by Marc Henderson who bulleted a header past the advancing keeper who may have misread the flight of the ball and came off his line too early, a good header nevertheless. 1-0 OBC Henderson’s 3^rd goal of the season.

The goal seemed to stun our opposition as they appeared to come with the game plan of turn up and win as I’m sure they probably do against most sides they face in their own patch so the goal seemed to come as a surprise to them. A scrappy and largely uneventful first half was characterised by OBC making unforced errors such as slicing the ball out or giving away needless foul throw-ins whereas Chessington looked as if they were winning a lot of the second balls with an energetic display but lacked the creativity to trouble Grant Burke and Marc Henderson at the back. Chessington went from back to front too much often bypassing their own midfield with quick balls up to the striker that were treat as meat and drink to OBC’s dominant defending. Chessington used the tactic of using a player with a decent long throw into the box but when OBC have a one of their throw in specialists in the ranks and are used to defending them this tactic was not going to work for Chessington today.

On the half hour Matt Belk looked to be bearing down on goal only for the Larkhall Park pitch to come Chessington’s rescue when Cian McGuire played a looping for Belk to chase and just as the he was lining up the shot the bounce went high over Belk’s head rather than follow its natural trajectory.

On thirty-six minutes Belk found himself on the left hand side of the penalty area and had time perhaps to take another touch but chose to unleash a well struck shot but it failed to trouble the opposition keeper as the effort went high and wide.

OBC were beginning to get on top as the half drew to a close and OBC took our chance when it fell to us. An Andy Dundas corner was flicked on by the back heel of Ian Walsh and with his back to goal Marc Henderson turned on the spot and finished into the roof of the net with the help of a slight deflection off a defender on its way through to goal. A good strike and Henderson’s 4^th goal of the season 39 minutes gone.

If the first goal came as something of a surprise then the second goal came as a wakeup call, hello you’re in a football game here it’s a quarter-final after all.....

Matt Belk nearly made it 3-0 within a minute when he raced through and made a goal bound effort which spun into the air off the keeper but the Chessington defender running towards his own goal was able to scramble the ball off the line with a fine piece of defending.

Chessington managed to get their first and only shot on target of the game deep into first half stoppage time when a corner was played short around the edge of the area a scrambled tackle in the box meant that the ball rolled out of the area and was well struck through a crowd of players and Harman made a smart reaction save with his legs to stop the ball going in and Idjiwa cleared the danger. Good keeping and equally good defending by OBC.

At half time Joicey said that players needed to cut out unforced mistakes and asked Idjiwa and Dundas to up their games as they were off it in the first half. Joicey reminded everyone that one goal can change this game is in last week when OBC were 3-0 up and cruising and Westside got themselves a goal and a nervy second half followed. Joicey said if we improve our performance we’ll win today because we can play much much better. Ian Walsh said that the opposition will come out and work hard so everyone had to be up for a tough forty-five minutes.

It was OBC who started the second half the brighter. Andy Dundas played a little chipped cross for Mike Breen to chase but an excellent piece of defending by the Chessington centre back intercepted the ball but headed it back into Charlie Horner’s path who hit a low drive from twenty five yards which the keeper was able to save.

The keeper denied Horner once more with an excellent reaction save on the goal line as Charlie hit a point blank effort from six yards but the keeper showed great agility in getting to the ball.

The game was effectively over as a contest when Cian McGuire typically won the ball in midfield with a excellent tackle and he then pulled himself up off the deck to put a perfectly weighted ball for Belky to run onto. Belk timed his run to perfection and dinked the ball past the onrushing keeper and tapped into an empty net. 3-0 on 58 minutes, Belk’s 32^nd goal of the season.

Mike Breen was withdrawn and Adam Peters introduced as a result of the goal. Adam is getting better with every game and linked the ball well with midfield. Peters knocked the ball out to Dundas and Dundas was away with only the keeper to beat but looking like a man haunted in front of goal, despite hitting the back of the net like shelling peas in training, Dundas pulled his shot wide of the goal when he should have at the very least hit the target.

Dundas was delivering in other areas of the game however as an expertly flighted corner was cleared off the line by Chessington.

Horner was denied by the keeper for a third time after a quick breakaway by the OBC that has us three on one with the keeper but rather than square the ball to Adam Peters or Andy Dundas, Horner took the difficult option and tried to beat the keeper from twenty yards which the keeper was able to palm away with a good save.

With no need to change the game Kelly, Barrett and Shingler were all left on the bench as OBC looked to see out the game as Joicey did not want give the opposition even slightest sniff of encouragement which a change can bring.

The end of the game was left for Ian Walsh to put a nice feel good factor to the score line when he was played through by Adam Peters where like Belk with his goal, timed his run to perfection rounded the keeper and buried the ball into the back of the net. 4-0 Walsh’s 11^th goal of the season with the last kick of the game.

OBC are through to the semi-final to face West Sussex side Alfold. They have a really good website and I’m envious of their stat keeping!!! and is worth checking out.

“The facilities are second to none in the area, with two excellent pitches that are kept in immaculate condition, a clubhouse with bar and Sky Sports, a well run website updated daily, changing rooms and pending planning permission to build a floodlit training facility at the ground.”

<http://www.alfoldfc.co.uk/>

The game will be played at their ground on Easter Saturday on Saturday 7^th April 2012. The trip will be into the beautiful Surrey countryside, and I MEAN countryside. So a train to Horsham and I’ll book a local minibus to take us the 10 miles to Alfold village. I hope it’s a sunny day. It’ll be just like our trip to Wes End earlier in the season which was also very nice and we won!

Next week, the big games come thick and fast now as OBC face Kerria Knights in the Geoff Ellis Premier Shield semi-final at Croygas on Mollison Drive at Wallington, South Croydon. A decent pitch if I remember. Up the OBC!

Peter Joicey
04.03.2011