Saturday 3 February 2007

Biscovey 3-2 Grampound

(Duchy League Division 3)
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Grampound went into this game with relegation candidates Biscovey with no time allowed for warm-up because of problems with changing facilities but began the game with comfort and style as they exposed the lack of pace at the heart of the Biscovey defence. Opportunities to put the ball into dangerous places , however, were repeatedly spurned and as the half went on it was clear that Grampound were going to struggle against one of their division's weaker sides when their superior team play should have put them well clear by the interval. As it was, Grampound managed to contrive few shots on goal, the best being when Weeks received the ball down the right hand channel and his shot on the run looked to be a goal until the goalkeeper managed to tip the low powerful shot round the post. From the resulting corner, Dunn nearly scored direct when his corner was headed away from under the crossbar, but again Grampound offered little challenge at such a dangerous incident.

Biscovey took the lead with their first serious attack on about 37 minutes when little challenge was offered giving Craig Chester a second free shot at the Grampound goal after the first had bounced off a post. The hosts were as shocked as the visitors that Biscovey had taken the lead, but it took only a minute for Grampound to get the equaliser. Cooper worked his way down the right, evading two scything tackles, and crossed the ball to the far post to Dai Moseley , who headed into the roof of the net to maintain his recent run of scoring form.

The second half began with Grampound looking very out of sorts, giving the ball away repeatedly in midfield when simple balls were called for, and eventually allowing the hosts to score another scrappy goal on the hour through Steve Branchett. With promotion hopes looking in tatters, Grampound pushed forward but never looked likely to put pressure on the competent Biscovey keeper and rarely got the ball into the danger area. On seventy minutes though, James Webb played a ball up to substitute Ross Turton, who turned and hit a wonderful shot from 25 yards into the bottom corner past the keeper's right hand and now that they were back in the match everyone sensed that Grampound would now push on for the win. They were let down by a lack of composure, surrendering possession unnecessarily and allowing Biscovey some soft opportunities. In the last minute, a ball over the top from the right gave Biscovey’s James Cutlan a shooting opportunity on the left of the 6 yard box and the finish was perfect.

Grampound will certainly miss the 3 lost points in this match. Cohesion was seriously lacking, with wide players often ignored on a narrow pitch made worse by Grampound's poor positional play. This defeat against a very moderate Biscovey outfit was, perhaps, the most disappointing of the season so far and some serious thought will be needed to get Grampound's promotion push back on track.

Squad

Ford T
Webb J
Leaney
Fletcher
Cooper
Moseley (sub Turton, 55)
Maker
James R
Dunn G
Weeks (sub Cotterill, 70)
Ford G

Goals

Moseley (40), Turton (68)

Man of the Match

Yellow Cards

Red Cards

Nonen of the Match Yellow Cards Red Cards