Royals Match Report 2005-06

Stunning Royals earn place in 2nd cup final

 Presteigne 0-2 Royals (Cup 1 Semi Final, 2nd Leg - 09-04-06)

The match was played in mid-week on a windy and quite chilly late afternoon. Presteigne has proven one of the more difficult teams to beat. In an earlier cliff hanger league game the Royals only just succeeded in clawing their way back to a 3-3 draw after being 2-0 down earlier in the game. But the Royals already had a one goal advantage from the first leg in another close-fought encounter.

The Royals played the first half uphill and against the sun and the wind. But it was the Royals who were on the attack first and Carless-Turland had an early shot on goal. The Royals were playing well, passing the ball around and looking dangerous. Indeed only a brilliant save by Keugler in the Presteigne goal prevented the Royals from taking an early lead. It began to look as if this was going to be one of those days when the Royals were playing football out of the top drawer. Another smooth passing movement saw Lewis just steering the ball wide of the right upright. Soon after Carless-Turland, flying in from the left, hit the upright with a powerful shot. A spectacular shot from Hearle also just failed to go in. The first half thus ended goal less with, however, the Royals playing very well. They could have been ahead with some shots narrowly wide, others well saved by the brilliant Presteigne goal keeper. 

The first half was nevertheless by no means one sided. Whenever Presteigne got the ball forward they looked dangerous. Their strikers were small in stature, but nippy with good ball control and great determination. But Riley and Robinson defended well and Hearle and Carless-Turland were quick to run back and help out. Holtz did not have a serious shot to save, though he rushed out quickly to clear whenever the ball was shot far forward for the Presteigne strikers. 

In the second half the Royals had the wind behind them and were playing downhill. The Royals could have achieved a break through early on with a superb shot on goal by Hearle. But it elicited an equally superb save by the Presteigne goal keeper. Yet a goal had to come for the Royals. They were playing so well. It came in the unfortunate form of an own goal. An excellent trade mark corner by Hearle saw the ball swerve dangerously in towards goal. A Presteigne defender in an attempt to clear inadvertently hooked the ball into his own goal. It would have been more satisfying, and a truer reflection of the game if one of the superb shots on goal by Lewis, Hearle or Carless-Turland had found the back of the net. 

The Royals now did most of the pressing and Presteigne were forced into some desperate defending. Although whenever Presteigne did get the ball forward there always was danger in the air. But Riley and Robinson continued to play very well. Some ten minutes into the second half Smith replaced Groom. Soon after a very good shot on goal by Carless-Turland brought yet another very good save by the Presteigne goal keeper. But then Carless-Turland finally succeeded to get a much deserved shot past the goal keeper. Smith finding himself in front of goal faced with the Presteigne goal keeper selflessly passed the ball to Carless-Turland rushing in from the left. He had an easy task booting the ball into the back of the net, the goal keeper having been completely wrong footed by Smith's astute move. A very well deserved goal by the Royals. Carless-Turland was then taken off to great applause. Brayne was brought on in mid field and Smith moved to the left wing. 

There were more scoring opportunities for the Royals but again they either narrowly missed or were saved. Hearle for instance put a long shot just over the crossbar while Smith, storming forward, just missed scoring. Thus the score remained at 0-2 at the final whistle. An all round brilliant performance by the Royals, possibly their best of the season. The margin could have been more for the superb goal keeping by Keugler. The Royals passed the ball around well, were quick to the ball, battled for each ball and defended resolutely whenever Presteigne's forwards launched an attack.

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