Royals Match Report 2003-04

Dominant Magpies Earn Draw with Cup Favourites.

Craven Arms 1-1 Church Stretton
(Carless-Turland) (League Cup 1st Rnd 1st Leg - 08-02-04)

The largest crowd of the season so far turned out to watch this local derby between Magpies and cup favourites Craven Arms. Magpies must have started as underdogs as they had yet to beat Craven Arms in their last 3 meetings. However from the earliest minutes, they showed their newly found confidence and dominated the game for long periods. There was one enforced change to the team, Simon Riley brought into the starting line up to replace the unwell Michael Brayne.

Craven Arms kicked off and Magpies got stuck in straight away, not giving them time to settle down. As early on as 6 minutes some great passing play between Harvey Carless-Turland and Rory Smith saw Magpies come close, with Rory Smith shooting just wide.

Then on 14 minutes Harvey Carless-Turland broke away from the middle of the field, but the Craven Arms keeper came out to narrow the angle and saved superbly with his legs.

Ed Groom had the quieter game of the two keepers, as Simon Riley had another stirling performance at the back, dealing with nearly everything before it had a chance to trouble Ed.

On 16 minutes Craven Arms created their best chance of the first half, when a break from their own half saw a 2 on 1 situation. With Simon Riley on this occasion beaten, the resulting shot just flew wide of the post, to the relief of the Magpies.

Half time saw no changes, but the team were warned that they were now facing a strong wind, which would make things extremely difficult. It didn't seem to worry the team though and they continued to put pressure on the Craven Arms defence. Three outstanding saves from their keeper, from Joe Hearle and Harvey Carless-Turland prevented Magpies from taking the lead early on in the second half.

It looked like Magpies had forgotten to wear their shooting boots for this game as despite the chances they were creating, they just could not find the back of the net.
With 4 minutes to go, it looked as though a 0-0 draw would be a fair result, but the referee saw fit to award a free kick to the home side, after their attacker was just clipped after he had pushed the ball forward. Although Magpies formed a wall, the shot was strong enough to get past both Joe Hearle and Ed Groom who were both on the Magpies goal line.

It looked like another unfortunate defeat against the run of play, and certainly the Magpies of two months ago would have buckled at this stage. However with 3 minutes remaining Craven Arms keeper pulled off another match winning save after Harvey Carless-Turland was put through by Rory Smith.

With time running out and under 2 minutes remaining, Harvey Carless-Turland broke away from just inside the Craven Arms half and surged forward. Despite yells from the sideline of, "Cross it", sheer determination and strength saw him battle through the defence and shoot home on the second attempt, after the keeper had been unable to hold onto his first shot.

The final whistle could not come quickly enough, and although the referee saw fit to add on nearly two minutes stoppage time, Magpies did not buckle. This had to be the most exciting games of the season so far and perhaps one where we really deserved to come away with a first leg lead.

Team: Ed Groom, Simon Riley, Joe Hearle , Harvey Carless-Turland, Rory Smith. Sub: Dominic Robinson