 |
|
Club sponsored by...
 To advertise on this website, please email us here
|
|
Sat 10th Oct 2009
League
St Margaretsbury 0-1 TAFC First team
TAFC goals: Mark Burfoot |
 |
A goal two minutes into the second half from leading scorer Mark Burfoot proved to be enough to clinch a narrow win over St Margaretsbury. We had created enough chances in the first period to make the margin of victory much greater but in the end we had to be grateful to Tom Vincent for all 3 points after he saved a penalty in the second half.
The home side have had a mixed season - they beat high flying Dunstable Town
2-0 away but going into this game they had lost 5 of their previous 6 games. They are greatly changed from the side we beat in the Premier Division Cup Final last May, with only 6 players surviving from that day. They were lying in 16th place in the table before the game and their record of only scoring 8 goals in 10 league games suggests they have trouble in front of goal and that was to prove to be the case here although they did have a goal disallowed and they missed a penalty, albeit one that was rather dubious.
A few changes were made to our line up with skipper Graham Hall, Tom Vincent and Neil Roberts returning to the starting line up. With Henry Thomas still suspended and David Salmon injured we moved Andy Mullins into the right back slot and played Chris Salmon alongside Steve Smith in the centre of defence where they performed admirably.
After a hectic start to the game we settled down and started to dominate proceedings. Mark Burfoot headed a cross from Graham Hall over the bar and Tony Fields shot straight at the keeper after he and Vinnie Iannone had carved open the centre of the Bury defence. Neil Roberts’ whipped in free kick nearly picked out Vinnie Iannone and from the resulting corner Vinnie’s header was cleared off the line. Vinnie turned provider when his cross was only prevented from finding Tony Fields in the box by the intervention of home left back Ed Taylor. When the corner came in the Bury defence got in a right old muddle but eventually they cleared the danger. Mark Burfoot slipped a lovely pass inside the full back for Neil Roberts who was just denied by keeper James Sturgeon who came off his line very quickly.
Only 12 minutes had passed and it seemed only a matter of time before we would score. Our first moment of danger came just past the quarter hour mark when Bury won a corner and from the kick Sam Crichton fired well over. Two minutes later it was our turn to have a corner and Sturgeon did well to keep out close range efforts from Vinnie Iannone and Mark Burfoot. Graham Hall did head home a corner but he had clearly fouled his marker and the goal was rightfully ruled out. Steve Smith set Neil Roberts free in the area with a magnificent long pass but Neil was just unable to control the ball. Vinnie Iannone headed a super Neil Roberts free kick narrowly wide but it would not have counted as the linesman’s flag went up for offside.
Our defence was not overly stretched by the home attacks which mainly came down their left wing, and though full back Ed Taylor did send over a few crosses they didn’t finding any of his colleagues. Mark Draper shot straight at Tom Vincent and the home side started to get more into the game as we started to lose our edge. Chris Salmon cleared a dangerous ball played in from the wing and Matt Myatt was just in the right place to get his head to a cross and prevent the player behind him doing any damage.
The game became more even and a bit scruffy but we should have scored in the 34th minute when Graham Hall had a free header from a corner. Graham is usually superb in the air but this time he put his header over the bar. We stepped it up again as half time started to loom and Vinnie Iannone shot straight at the keeper from a tight angle after being fed by Neil Roberts. The home defence looked far from secure and after some poor play Tony Fields was given a shooting chance which the keeper saved easily. Right on half time Neil Roberts broke down the right and put over a delicious cross which was crying out for someone to convert, but tragically none of our players had read the situation and the ball rolled harmlessly across the area. Thus after dominating large parts of the first half and facing a defence that looked far from secure we had nothing to show for it as we headed in at half time with a 0-0 score line.
HT: SM 0 TA 0
We had a dream start to the second half, scoring within 2 minutes of the restart. Chris Salmon won a header on the half way line and the ball was helped on by Vinnie Iannone to Mark Burfoot who scored his 14th goal of the season. Some home supporters claimed it was offside but to our admittedly biased eyes it looked a perfect good goal. We should have built on this lead but instead it was the home side who were spurred on.
In the 54th minute we had a lucky escape when home captain John Barker rose well to a free kick and his header looked destined for the corner of the net until Mark Draper, who was offside, decided to help it over the line and thus nullify it. A little bit of niggle started to creep in but the referee nipped it in the bud by flashing his yellow card a few times. Bury threw caution to the wind and sent players forward in numbers which left them a bit vulnerable to quick breaks. From one such swift move Neil Roberts fed Vinnie Iannone who shot wide.
We were defending reasonably well without being entirely comfortable and we started to give away a few corners. In the 66th minute Andy Mullins and Omar Mwadh tussled for a loose ball and everyone was amazed when the referee gave a penalty. It was an extremely harsh decision but justice was done when Tom Vincent did supremely well to save the spot kick from John Barker who blotted an otherwise excellent performance. The feeling that we were hard done by arose 3 minutes later when Tony Fields appeared to be tripped by the full back in the area as he went past him. The officials awarded a corner but Tony was adamant after the game that he had been caught and it should have been a penalty.
Bury were pushing hard for an equaliser and we had a lot of defending to do, which by and large we did well. Vinnie Iannone had a chance to wrap things up when Mark Burfoot flicked the ball onto him, but under pressure from a defender Vinnie’s lob cleared the keeper and the bar. A number of substitutions were made by both sides including David Whicker who took up position on the right of midfield. David was played in down the right but from a good position his cross was claimed by the keeper. Later David was presented with a shooting opportunity after good play by Vinnie Iannone but his effort went wide.
The home side huffed and puffed a lot without really creating too much but with such a slender lead we could not relax until the final whistle went after 5 added minutes.
FT: SM 0 TA 1
A welcome 3 points which keeps us in 7th place still within touching distance of the teams above, most of whom we have games in hand on. Not one of our better performances but if we had taken some of the opportunities we created in the first half when we were on top it could have been a more comfortable victory. But we showed that we can keep it tight when necessary and it was nice to see us keep our 5th clean sheet of the campaign. This is always a tough place to play at but it is proving to be a bit of a lucky ground with just 1 defeat in 7 visits, with just 2 goals conceded and 6 clean sheets. It also maintained our recent good run of 3 wins from our last 4 games, the only blip being a narrow defeat against top team Chalfont St Peter.
Teams:
SM: James Sturgeon, Dean Davies (Marc Angelini 55), Ed Taylor, John Barker (Capt), Kaine Lovett, Sam Wilkinson, Sam Crichton, Anthony Valentine (Martin Stickland 75), Mark Draper, Adrian Devine (Bradley Byford 72), Omar Mwadh,
TA: Tom Vincent, Andy Mullins, Rob Duncan, Graham Hall (Capt), Steve Smith, Chris Salmon, Tony Fields (Danny Gray 80) , Matt Myatt, Mark Burfoot (Ashley Addison 88), Vinnie Iannone, Neil Roberts (Dave Whicker 69). Subs not used: Dave Clark, Joe Kemp.
Goals:
CSP: -
TA: Mark Burfoot
Crowd: 37
SM Website: www.stmargaretsburyfc.com |
|
|
|
|
|
