20.10.07
Man of the match: Rob Briginshaw
AFC Corinthians Res travelled to the impressive Faraday Road stadium in Newbury on Saturday to face a strong Newbury FC side that had recently defeated Turnpike Sports, the team that have handed the Whites their worst defeat of the season so far. Buoyed from last weeks win Corinthians were determined to give a good account of themselves and went into the game confident and upbeat.
The match started brightly for both sides with Newbury maintaining good possession and Corinthians defending well and looking dangerous on the break. With skipper Gary Mancini injured Ben Ardron returned to the defence alongside Matthew Charters and Andy Humphreys and three looked organised against a lively Newbury front pairing. Andy Stranks was also returning for Corinthians in goal, and it was he who was the busier of the two keepers as the first half reached its midway point, pulling off several fantastic saves including one memorable stop from a shot that was arrowing into the top corner. As Newbury began to take control however, it was Corinthians that took the lead. Good work from Rob Briginshaw and Roger Allwood, who were tireless in midfield, saw the ball land at the feet of Ethan Jerrome, who flicked the ball outrageously into the path of brother Joe who drove home.
Knocked by the goal Newbury took a few moments to regain their composure, during which Jerrome again went close, but the final ten minutes of the half were largely dominated by Newbury, with Stranks again called into action and making another marvellous stop.
At half time manager Rich Hand called for increased concentration and work-rate, and stressed the importance of possession where possible. Allwood was replaced by Steve Cail in the centre of the park, and the team went out intend on not letting the good first period go to waste.
The first twenty minutes of the second half saw a similar pattern to the first continue. Possession was mainly dominated by the home side, however Corinthians were putting some nice moves together, and were unlucky on several occasions not to extend their lead. Towards the mid-point of the half however the Whites began to face difficulties. Humphreys and Simon Ibbitt, who had been solid in the right back position, were both forced off through injury, while Charters and Richard Spurr on the left were both forced to play on despite knocks as all three substitutions had been made. With 20 minutes left on the clock Newbury made their pressure tell when a low cross from the left was cleared directly against the onrushing striker deflecting the ball into the net.
Five minutes later Corinthians were down to ten men through injury when Brady was forced off with nasty bruising to his knee, and the pressure was beginning to tell. Despite this the Corinthian rear-guard action was resolute, and so it was with great disappointment that the winning goal came as a result of a clear foul on goalkeeper Stranks when he was bundled into when taking a high-ball, resulting in the ball dropping and being put away.
Corinthians were sadly unable to grab a late equaliser, but must take great heart from the performance against one of the strongest sides in the division. After the game Manager Hand reflected, “Although they had the bulk of possession and territory, I was pleased with the performance and am obviously disappointed to lose to a goal like that. We go to Sonning next week and will be looking for the win that will take us off the foot of the table.”