Match number: 2499Weysiders Reserves’ run in the Lower Junior Cup continues after they overcame Burpham Reserves from Division II, a full three divisions above Weysiders Reserves in the league. Despite asking the players to arrive on time, a few who shall NOT remain nameless insisted on arriving late, Matt “Kojak” Hockin, Mark Sydorin and Rinku Saran all experienced the manager’s dismay and incurred the mandatory £2 fine. In fact Rinku arrived so late that he was dropped to the bench from the starting eleven.
Weysiders were boosted by the inclusion of a proper ‘keeper in between the sticks, with the return from a very long honeymoon of Aaron Bristow.
To be honest the first half was not a great spectacle for the few supporters who braved the weather to cheer Weysiders Reserves on. Both teams found it difficult to hold on to the ball, Weysiders in particular struggling with their first touch, which meant that they gave the ball away cheaply, on far too many occasions.
With neither side really creating much in the last third, a nil-nil score line at half-time looked very likely, until a number of small Weysider mistakes on the left hand side allowed the Burpham winger to cross the ball into the Weysiders goal mouth. It was not a great cross but the tall Burpham centre forward managed to get his head in front of Weysiders “Captain” Jack Shaw, to glance the ball into the far top corner, past the out stretched hands of Weysiders keeper Bristow: 1-0 Burpham.
After 30 minutes Weysiders made two substitutions and also a formation changes, adopting a 4:4:2 formation from the 4:5:1 that they had started with. This change certainly had the desired effect as Weysiders soon started to create more chances in the last third, but despite this the score remained at 1-0 at half time.
On the stroke of half-time Weysiders left back Russ Minns unfortunately suffered an ankle injury from a late challenge, which forced Weysiders into another change during the break, allowing manager Mark “not the cat this week” Stephen to come on with Sam Peters moving over to left back.
The second half started much better for the Weysiders with the new formation suiting their style of play, and the players getting the ball down and playing with more composure. Weysiders soon forced a number of corners, and were unlikely not to score from each, but on the third attempt “Captain” Jack Shaw forced his way to the back post and powered home a powerful header into the net: 1-1.
Right from the kick-off Weysiders closed down Burpham and soon forced another corner, this time with an almost identical move, “Captain” Jack was dragged to the floor by his marker, giving the referee ot choice but to award a penalty, which was swiftly dispatched by Adi “who is that man?” Puntrello: 2-1 Weysiders Reserves.
There were a number of good goalscoring opportunities for Weysiders during the second half, but the Burpham ‘keeper made a string of good saves to keep Burpham in the game. Despite not scoring that decisive third goal, Weysiders Reserves easily saw out the 90 minutes with a disciplined second half performance, to progress through to the next round of the Lower Junior Cup.
Man of the Match was “Captain” Jack Shaw who was solid in defence and scored our crucial first goal and winning the penalty.
Next week Weysiders Reserves take on Virgina Water A at home.
Don’t forget training every Thursday on the 3G at Surrey Sports Park, 8:15-9:30 pm. |
