Royals Match Report 2004-05

Unlucky Magpies Go Down in Cup Epic

Church Stretton 0-1 Coreley (AET) (League Cup Final 22/05/05)

The Magpies returned to the Coors Stadium, this time for their most important match of the season, the League Cup Final. Coreley had beaten the Magpies in their previous encounter by 3 goals to 1, although Magpies had won in the two meetings previous to that. A closely fought game was in prospect, probably with few goals, as Coreley tended to defend deep and in numbers.

The match was played on pitch 2, which enabled the teams to make use of the changing rooms and also to run out onto the pitch at the start of the game. As the Magpies ran out they were met with a huge amount of cheering from their supporters. There were black and white flags, cameras galore, hooters and a crowd of Magpie supporters as anxious as the players themselves. In total there were probably 100 people watching, by far the largest crowd the team had ever played in front of.

Magpies won the toss and elected to have choice of ends. This meant that Coreley had kick off, and from the instant the whistle went, Magpies were upon their opposition.

Although Magpies were not able to make use of their free flowing style of football, they had by far the majority of the possession in the first half. They made siege after siege on the Coreley goal but it was not their most polished display with passes at times going astray. But Coreley defended deep and there always was a wall of players at the back guarding the goal. Attack after attack was stymied by the Coreley defence. Both sides demonstrated great determination, Coreley in defence and the Magpies in attack. Clear scoring opportunities were few and far between.

After 15 minutes Carless-Turland came close when Hearle whipped in a cross across the face of the goal. The ball flew past the post with the outstretched Carless-Turland just unable to stretch far enough to make contact with the ball, when surely any contact would have sent the ball into the back of the net.

Coreley defended deep and the Magpies found it difficult to penetrate their defence, even though they were virtually camped in the Coreley half. Occasionally Coreley broke forward, without, however, looking overly dangerous. Brayne and Riley coped without any difficulties in keeping the Coreley strikers at bay. Holtz hardly had anything to do in the Magpies goal.

Magpies midfield consisting of Hearle, Smith and Carless-Turland controlled the middle of the field and patiently tried to create opportunities for Lewis up front. On 20 minutes Lewis had his best chance of the game when a promising move from midfield set him on his way. Hearle passed the ball to his feet but unfortunately he couldn't hit the target from the tight angle he was in.

At half time in the Magpies dressing room, manager Smith emphasised the importance of passing the ball quickly and precisely, something that he felt had been lacking in the first half. The effort was there though and each player was giving 100%.

No changes were made for the second half and almost immediately that the Magpies had kicked off, Coreley gained possession and charged onto the Magpies goal. Fortunately Riley was the last man and he made an essential tackle to prevent what might have been the first goal.

The second half was pretty much as the first, with the Magpies having more of the possession but with Coreley defending resolutely and preventing any of the created chances from giving the Coreley keeper too much trouble.

10 minutes into the second half Groom replaced Lewis to bring fresh legs into the equation. Groom soon got stuck in and increased the pace of the game. However despite this he was unable to make any real impact on the outcome.

On 18 minutes Carless-Turland received a through ball from Smith, and found himself clear, but unfortunately tamely hit his shot at the keeper. Two minutes later Smith came close himself, when the ball rebounded out to him and he fired a shot just over the bar.

As normal time drew to a close, the prospect of extra time loomed, with penalties to follow if a deciding goal could not be scored. Sure enough, the referee blew up for time after 2 minutes of stoppage time.

The team stayed as it was for the first period of extra time and still neither side could get the upper hand. However towards the end of the first half of extra time calamity struck. Groom hand balled close to the halfway line and the resulting free kick was cleared wide to the Coreley winger. When his cross came over Hearle
mis-kicked his clearance under pressure, and Coreley's centre forward was able to fire home from close range to make the score 0-1.

The second half of extra time brought fierce efforts by the Magpies to make up the deficit, but to no avail. Robinson replaced Smith, Riley was pushed into mid-field with Robinson taking his place in defence. Lewis returned to take the place of Groom. All the hard work done by the Magpies to drive the ball forward, pass it around and shoot still did not produced a goal. Either the Coreley defence held firm or the final shot was off target.

Hard as they tried the Magpies failed to make up the deficit. They did, however, play well, showed passion and determination and on a number of occasions were close to scoring. Just this time it did not happen. Coreley defended doggedly but was perhaps not the deserved winner. But the winner nonetheless.

Three runners up medals in two seasons - Magpies time will come.

Team: Cameron Holtz, Simon Riley, Michael Brayne, Joe Hearle, Rory Smith, Harvey Carless-Turland, Tom Lewis. Subs used: Jack Case, Ed Groom, Dominic Robinson