Royals Match Report 2004-05
Skilful Magpies outplay physical Coreley
Church Stretton 3-0 Coreley (Lewis,
Hearle, Case)
(League 30/01/05)
On a dry, but cold, Sunday morning
the Magpies put in one of their best performances of the season, quite
comfortably seeing off a physical Coreley side. Though by no means
one-sided, the Magpies nonetheless had the upper hand in all departments
of the game. Their fast passing game was a delight to see. Only some
quality defending by Coreley kept the score down to three goals. The
Magpies had a plethora of attempts on goal, Coreley much fewer, with
only one or two requiring a save from Holtz in the Magpies goal.
The Magpies went on the attack from
the whistle, launching one raid after another on the Coreley goal.
Excellent passing movements in the approach to the goal between Smith,
Lewis, Hearle and Carless-Turland promised much but failed to deliver.
Mostly this was due to Coreley adopting a defensive strategy, keeping
many players back and making it difficult for the Magpies to find a way
through. But the finishing of the Magpies was somewhat disappointing.
All the forwards had chances to score, but the killer shot on target was
some time in coming. One shot by Lewis went straight into the arms of
the keeper, one by Hearle went just wide, and so on.
The Magpies were particularly good
at marking from Coreley goal kicks, denying Coreley chances to get out
of their half and to attack the Magpies' goal. When Coreley did break
through they failed to attack in numbers and Brayne and Groom dealt with
the attacks competently. Though there was one fierce shot by a Coreley
striker which only just sailed over the cross bar. Another went straight
into the arms of Holtz, the only shot in the whole match which was
clearly on target. Groom at right back, a new position for him,
performed calmly and competently and was having an excellent game.
Brayne at times adopted an astute aggressive tactic: after passing the
ball to a midfield player he would run forward into space looking for
the reverse pass. This gave the Magpies an additional string to their
bow. Holtz and Hearle also developed a good understanding from goal
kicks. Hearle would feign waiting for a shallow pass from Holtz and,
just as the ball was about to be released would turn and run down the
line, loosing his marker, and ready to latch on to a deep kick. Indeed
Holtz's goal kicking was much improved, often getting the ball beyond
the half way line to set up the Magpies for another run at the
opposition.
The inevitable finally happened in
the 23rd minute. Groom was tripped just outside his own half.
Brayne's powerful free kick found Lewis right in front of goal,
unmarked. Lewis controlled the ball well, turned and shot past the
keeper into thenet. The 1-0 was long in coming but was thoroughly
deserved. The half time whistle blew shortly afterwards.
During half time Manager Smith
complemented the team on their great football. He encouraged them to be
a bit quicker in their passing and to help one another out even more.
Assistant Manager Brayne called for more aggressive moves into the box
so as not to waste balls whipped in across the face of goal. He
complemented everyone on their great efforts.
In the second half Coreley was more
often on the attack and could possibly have scored on a number of
occasions. Their centre forward looked dangerous but did not get much
support from his team mates. Coreley's kicks on goal were mostly
attempted from quite far out and lacked accuracy. But above all, the
Magpies defence continued to play exceedingly well, making no
errors. Smith and Hearle continued to control the midfield creating
through balls for Lewis to latch onto.
At the other end the Magpies also
continued to shine with good passing movements from midfield and
excellent crosses into the centre. The Coreley keeper made a number of
good saves. Coreley had to defend well and were often forced to put the
ball out of touch or behind the goal line for a corner. Though Hearle
put in some good corner kicks, none brought a goal as Coreley defended
corners in numbers, crowding the space in front of goal. Some corner
kicks also sailed beyond the goal area. As the far side of the pitch was
not covered by a Magpie player, there was no-one to kick it back into
the goal area and on a number of occasions the ball went out on the
other side of the pitch.
Ten minutes into the second half
Case replaced Carless-Turland on the left wing. As the second half wore
on Coreley started taking more risks with more players going forward.
This in turn presented the Magpies with more chances. Sixteen minutes
into the second half a long goal kick by Holtz was gathered by Hearle on
the right touch line. He centred accurately to Case who was unmarked in
the middle of the pitch with no one obstructing his path to goal. He
made no mistake putting the ball beyond the keeper to make it 2-0.
On 15 minutes Robinson replaced
Smith, who had picked up a couple of knocks, in the centre of midfield.
The final minutes of the game brought some more strong attacking
movements by Coreley. But the Magpies had the final say. On a lightning
counter attack down the left flank the ball came to Case who swung in a
perfect pass for Hearle in space. He picked up the pass and shot in a
powerful and well deserved goal to make it 3-0.
Perhaps the final score was a bit
harsh for Coreley who in the second half made great efforts to get back
into the game. But the score was very well deserved by the Magpies. They
picked up some hard knocks in the course of the game against their
bigger opponents. The Magpies played with great spirit, skilfully and
with some superb one-touch passing movements.
Team: Cameron Holtz,
Ed Groom, Michael Brayne, Joe Hearle, Rory Smith ,
Harvey Carless-Turland, Tom
Lewis. Subs: Dominic Robinson, Jack Case.
