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Late goal controversy ends FA Cup hopes

Match Report
Brislington vs Sha esbury
FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round

I resisted the urge to tle this match report 'Foxes sha ed by late decision as Rockies edge close FA
Cup encounter' as that would be unfair to officials who clearly do their best in difficult circumstances,
however the reality is it took a clear foul on Jordan Ricke s to be missed for the visitors to score the
decisive goal on 83 minutes. There was the proverbial 'cigare e paper' between the two sides and it
was going to come down the ghtest of margins to separate them.
Manager Lee Perks was without centre halves Asa White (suspended) and Lewis Dunn (injured), and
Harry Tobin who was ill. Central Midfielders Jordan Ricke s and Joel Smith stepped in superbly to fill
the void, sandwiched between Lewis Ewins making his first start and Jordan Williams.

George Jones and Ben Withey took up unfamiliar roles as holding midfielders to join Josh Egan, with
a more familiar a acking line up of Buck, Griffiths and Doddimead. McLennan and Scadding wai ng
in the wings for the Foxes' third match in 8 days.

The match started well for the visitors who looked strong in every department. Sha esbury, who play
in the Wessex Premier League, had recently signed former Bristol City and Portsmouth Striker Bre
Pitman, although he was le on the bench for the step 5 club. The early offerings were scrappy and
comba ve with the 'Rockies' showing intent, edging the opening exchanges, however their a acks
were kept at bay by good defending and it was clear the game was going to be a tough one. The
home side se led and started to offer a bit more going forward, but, again, the order of the day was
resolute defending.
By far the most no ceable and quite honestly unpalatable memory from the early stages were the
constant, tedious claims for fouls from both the bench and players by the away side. To what seemed
like every single situa on, tackle, or header the referee was harassed and cajoled. This fulfilled its
inten ons when the full back's clearance followed by an acroba c leap and piroue e, was followed
by an equally drama c roar from both players and dugout and saw a bemused Josh Egan booked for,
I know not what! (And I was very close)!!

The constant gamesmanship con nued and shortly a er Oaklan Buck was rightly cau oned for
petulantly reac ng, to being slung 'rugby style' to the ground and not receiving a free kick. This was
again met by the referee being surrounded as the away side bayed for a red card!! Their next goal
was clear, with the visitors marking Buck's card and targe ng him, making the most of every situa on
in an a empt to see him removed, the final straw came when the other full back simulated, to get a
foul as Buck raced alongside him (I can again tes fy to Buck's innocence as I was merely feet away
from the incident).

Once again a melee ensued with the referee surrounded by players doing their level best to see a
card produced. Perks was given li le choice but to remove the forward, replacing him with Joe
McLennan. It was a blow to the Foxes as it was Buck who was star ng to really trouble the
Sha esbury back line, but it would have only ended one way had he remained on the pitch. The rest
of the half was a stalemate, both teams resolutely compe ng but very li le ac on in either box. A
later incident saw Griffiths caught with an elbow, and Rockies centre half Beard was rightly
cau oned.