Match Report - 5th May 2007

Patience, grit, determination, drive and a never say die attitude won the points for Headstone. With five minutes to go, having seen nearly twenty chances go begging the players may have thrown in the towel. Not a bit of it as two goals in the last few minutes won the game. The attitude of the players was illustrated as time was running out with the score at 0-0 when, during an injury break, captain Russell Butlin took it on himself to gather the players together to give them a team talk to rally them.

Credit to Bessingby who never gave up and, having been on the back foot for most of the game, battled away to keep Headstone at bay and must have felt that they were going to come away with a point or possibly even all three, only to be denied at the end.

Headstone made three changes to the team that beat Bessingby 5-2 last weekend. Tom Wrigley returned at full back, Francis Nkhoma was back in the midfield and Federico Jaramillo was up front in place of top scorer Conor McBreen.

The pattern of the game was set in the first half with most of the attacking plays coming from Headstone. But their finishing illustrated the problem they have suffered from for the last two seasons – they are much too wasteful in front of goal. There was a regular flow of chances but too often shots flew wide of the goal. Brett, as ever was keen and lively and had an early one on one with the keeper that he couldn’t convert. He and Fed had several shots but too often waited for the ball to come to them and found defenders beating them to it.

Headstone built well from the back thanks to thoughtful play by both full backs Tom Wrigley and Ciaran McDougall. There was some good build up play with neatly combined passes. But there was a lot of possession given away unnecessarily from throw ins. Bessingby battled well in the midfield and for much of the half neither Francis nor Nicholas Furquim were able to make their mark on the game.

There were disruptions to Headstone when for a time they were down to just nine players. First Russell had to come off after he landed badly in an aerial challenge that saw him hurt his head. After a ten minute rest he came back on and was soon back in the action. While he was off though, Fed was put through on goal but as he was about to shoot the ball was cleared into his face and he came off with a bloody nose. He was also off for about five minutes before he could resume.

George Moriarty and Nick had chances this half but again couldn’t beat the keeper. At the other end Daniel Lynch was troubled only once. However, Daniel kept himself busy with plenty of talking to his team to try to inspire and direct them. Towards the latter part of the half Francis found his feet in the game and started to show his battling side which helped Headstone to win and keep the ball.

The main change to the game came early in the second half when Kyle Giles Brown replaced Nick and, from the minute he was on, showed his lively, snappy style that has made such an impression. Headstone had even more of the play this half pinning Bessingby back and chances fell to Fed, Francis, Russell, Thomas and Brett. Fed had a great opportunity in a one on one but lobbed just over. Brett had a chip that went inches wide. Time ticked on and it looked like Headstone just wouldn’t get the break. Jordan Coleman replaced George on the left and was soon involved combining with Ciaran who had another outstanding performance at left back.

Then with just five minutes remaining Kyle broke down the right, cut inside, beat his defender and then laid the ball into the path of Francis who curled it first time from 25 yards high into the corner of the net. Having gone nearly the whole season without a goal Francis has now scored three goals in three games and hopefully now has a taste of scoring that he will maintain. Jordan Wright came on to replace Fed and he played in central midfield.

Bessingby also had a couple of opportunities late on but Daniel was alert and quick off his line. He also made very good use of his defenders with his distribution. As the game went into injury time, Thomas Green, who hadn’t scored since a friendly back in October produced a great finish to seal the points. Headstone won a corner on the right, Jordan Coleman sent in an out swinger and Thomas charged in and met it first time to drill it home. The keeper got his hands to it but couldn’t keep it out.

So Headstone came away with a 2-0 win. They have taken six points from Bessingby this week but have been forced to work really hard for them. But being able to keep going and score late on is a great asset for any team and Headstone have now done this in their last two games.

The defence was outstanding today. Joe Jordan at centre back quietly put in another rock solid performance and both full backs provided attacking and defensive strength. But it was the captain Russell Butlin who took the man of the match award. Russell has been such a key asset for the team throughout the season and his determination and will to win helped to drive the team on to the points today.