3 November 2020

FA Vase 1st Round

 

Risborough Rangers        0

Erith and Belvedere          0

            (Risborough win 4-2 on penalties)

 

DERES PAY THE PENALTY AFTER EARLY CHANCES

 

After the joy of a penalty shootout win against Alfold in the FA Cup earlier in the season, the Deres were on the other side of the emotional seesaw on a clear Tuesday night in Buckinghamshire.

 

Having been frustrated by the sudden rainstorm that waterlogged the pitch on Saturday, both sides contributed to a rattling good 0-0 draw in the rearranged game, but it was Jack Brooker who emerged as the hero, saving two penalties in the shootout.  The penalties went as follows:

 

1          Laurence Clark         scored            Marlon Patterson      scored            1-1

2          Josh Urquhart           saved             Jamie Taylor             saved             1-1

3          Martin Griggs            scored            Henry Dasofunjo      scored            2-2

4          Brian Haule               scored            Kam Pope-Campbell saved           3-2

5          Justin Gordon           scored                                                                        4-2

 

The game had begun with a flurry of activity, with five decent chances in the first six minutes.  Marcus Wyllie shot well over in the second minute, then in quick succession James Hawkins had a shot tipped over the bar by Brooker, George Humber shot high when picking up the keeper’s clearance, Tim Beckford also shot high following a promising run, and Humber set up Hawkins on the left of the box for a shot into the side netting.

 

On 10 minutes Lawrence Clark hit a free-kick across the Deres’ goalmouth but nobody connected with it.  There followed a quiet spell marked by a yellow card for Patterson for a crunching challenge on Asher Yearwood on 17 minutes.  On the half-hour Humber picked up an injury and was replaced by Harry Smith, who had a decent chance 9 minutes later when he could have chipped the keeper but delayed shooting and eventually squared the ball into the goalmouth where nobody was able to meet it.  Just before that Urquhart had tried a neat near-post flick which Rilwan Anibaba held easily.

 

Risborough had two good chances just before the interval, Sam Pekun beating Reece Barrett and seeing his shot clip the right-hand post, and Wyllie finishing a good right-to-left run with a shot directly at Anibaba’s chest, but it remained goalless.

 

Deres started the second half almost as promisingly as the first, Beckford heading just over the bar after 36 seconds, but weren’t able to maintain the pressure.  Midway through the half a Hawkins free-kick led to a goalmouth scramble but no final touch for Deres as Yearwood cleared off the line.  On 76 minutes Kameiko Pope-Campbell, who had just come on for Beckford, had a shot tipped over the bar and Smith headed high from the resulting corner. 

 

The best chances of the half came in the last ten minutes: Haule’s 35-yard drive superbly tipped over the bar by Anibaba, a “Bobby Moore special” tackle by man-of-the-match Alex Sethi to deny Pope-Campbell, and Brooker making an equally spectacular save from Dasofunjo three minutes from time, setting up the shootout.  As goalless draws go, this was a cracker.

 

So Deres went out of the Vase to a club from a lower level, but that is somewhat misleading.  Risborough are unbeaten in the league since 19 April 2019; they had led their league by 14 points when the 2019-20 season was halted by lockdown; and so far this season they’ve won 12 out of 13 matches, scoring a remarkable 45 goals in the process.  No disgrace going out on penalties to a team on a roll like that, and the locals agreed that Deres had given Risborough their hardest game of the season.

 

RANGERS: Brooker; Squire-Adams, Read (Fox 70), Sethi, Urquhart, Yearwood (Gordon 90),  Rymer, Clark, Haule, Wyllie, Pekun (Griggs 80).

DERES: Anibaba; Adeyemo, Hawkins (Anderson 90), Patterson, Curtis, Barrett, Dasofunjo, Taylor, Beckford (Pope-Campbell 73), Krasniqi, Humber (Smith 30).