Royals Match Report 2005-06

Depleted Royals overcome defensive Knighton

 Royals 2-0 Knighton (League, 25-03-06)
(Groom, Lewis) 

The sky had cleared for this Saturday morning game but a strong wind blew from the south-west and the pitch was wet from heavy overnight rain, making for some difficulty in directing passes accurately. Two players were absent, one due to ill health (Simon Riley) and one due to injury (Rory Smith). The Royals utterly dominated the game against a mostly younger team but failed to find the net more than two times through a combination of good goal keeping by the Knighton goal keeper, a lack of luck (hitting the wood work four times) and inaccurate shooting.  

Knighton won the toss and decided to play down hill with the wind in their backs for the first half. It proved of little benefit to them. From the start the Royals pinned Knighton into their own half. Nor did it take long for the Royals to score the first goal. A pass from Hearle from near the right corner flag swept across the face of Knighton's goal to the waiting Lewis and Groom. Lewis failed to latch on to it, but Groom did, putting it past the goal keeper to make it 1-0 to the Royals. 

Soon after the Royals produced an exquisite move. From within his own half Hearle passed the ball to Carless-Turland on the left, an exchange of passes between Carless-Turland and Lewis followed. The ball was then passed back to Hearle who had raced up the right side. He passed it back to Lewis whose powerful shot hit the cross bar. It would have been wonderful if a goal had ensued from such a well-worked series of passes. Still, it was a joy to behold, showing the Royals at their best. 

There were many more pleasing passing movements, but none to quite equal that one. Actually, as the first half progressed, the Royals' play became at times a bit ragged and they were a bit slow to the ball, giving Knighton too much time on the ball. They continued to dominate play and Lewis, Hearle, Carless-Turland and Groom all had shots on goal which either went just wide or produced a good save by the keeper. Knighton rarely ventured into the Royals half and there was only one shot towards goal which went wide of the left upright. Brayne and Robinson at the back were masters of their domain, dealing competently with the few incursions made by Knighton. Keeper Holtz rarely touched the ball. 

In the second half the Royals played downhill with the wind in their back. Lewis set the tone immediately, coming close but not scoring. He dribbled the ball past two defenders. The hard work done, he then kicked it wide of the post. Still, a commendable effort. Another near miss by Lewis followed. A powerful shot by Hearle was palmed away by the goal keeper. It fell to Lewis who shot wide. Yet more near misses followed by various Royals forwards. But eventually one did go in and in much the same way as the first goal. A well judged cross from Hearle on the right again swung across the goal mouth and presented Lewis with the chance of a simple tap in. He took it gleefully. This compensated him for his hard work and various near misses. 

The game ended soon afterwards. Man of the match was undoubtedly the Knighton keeper. He was a major reason why the dominance of the Royals did not lead to a much higher score. Another was just bad luck. Numerous shots were only just wide or hit the upright or the cross bar. But the passing was not consistently good. Some glorious moves alternated with some scrappy ones. In the second half too, Knighton had only one serious attempt at scoring.

Team: Cameron Holtz, Dominic Robinson, Michael Brayne, Joe Hearle, Ed Groom, Harvey Carless-Turland, Tom Lewis.