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2nd
January
2004
Thorns 2 Afc Gornal 3 (27/12/03) match report from 'John Gornal' On a bitterly cold morning in which snow was falling, 1st division outfit Thorns Athletic played host to 3rd division Afc Gornal in the Kidderminster fire shield. Richard Upton went into the game with only 11 players to choose from including himself, not an ideal situation to have when you’re up against aside two divisions higher. Although as we have seen in previous weeks Upton's men are up for the fight and seemingly undaunted by any opposition, a trait picked up from Upton during his more illustrious playing days one suspects. A scrappy opening to the game also saw early yellow cards for John Magher and also Richard Upton. Twenty minutes into the game saw Gornal’s first real bit of quality as Lee Harrison fed Rob Bates who delivered a cross field ball to Dave Jones in the area, his shot was saved by the home keeper but the rebound fell invitingly for Gavin Atkins who slotted the ball into the far corner of the net. Thorns reacted by launching a few attacks on Afc’s defence but Ian Palmer, Simon flavell and Mart Collingride were looking solid. Thorns did get an equalizer on the half hour mark when they broke away following a Afc Gornal corner and were awarded a penalty after Richard Upton had fouled the centre forward, Shaun Flynn guessed right but couldn’t keep out the strike. Five minutes before half time though Afc regained the lead through Mart Collingride as he bundled home after the keeper only parried Andy Chec ketts’ free kick. The second half was again a scrappy affair with both sides cancelling each other out so there was very little in the way of The neat football that watchers of afc gornal have become accustomed to over the past few seasons. The second half was only ten minutes old when Thorns drew level for the second time, Afc failed to cut out a left wing cross and it was stabbed home from close range giving Flynn no chance. Then followed two moments of controversy involving Striker Dave Jones. First he ran through on goal and was seemingly dragged to floor by the Thorns centre half but no penalty was given. Jones then took his protests to far and saw red as the referee took exception to Jones’s behaviour. This only seemed to strengthen afc Gornal’s desire to win the game, and John Magher typified the mood in the Gornal side as he was pushed upfront for the last twenty minutes and ran for every loose ball, giving the home defence problems with his constant harassing. With ten minutes remaining Gornal got the reward they deserved when Lee Harrison picked out the far corner of the net with a curled shot, after good work in the area by Gavin Atkins. Gornal played out the final ten minutes without any real scares, and in the end deserved the 3-2 victory. An extremely satisfied Richard Upron told Yampy after the match: "We pulled off one of the performances of the season, especially as the squad (through christmas beer and flu) was missing no fewer than 7 regulars. This meant a recall for 17 year old Gav Atkins, 38 year old Richard Upton, and 46 year old (secretary) Steve Atkins on the bench!" The team return to league action next week at home against Mill Race, who have picked up since being embarrassed 6 - 0 by afc earlier in the season. Ben Small should be returning for this fixture after a long lay off through work commitments. Team (v. Thorns): S.Flynn: M.Collingride, S.Flavell, I.Palmer: R.Bates, J.Magher, L.Harrison, R.Upton, A.Checketts: G.Atkins, D.Jones. Goalscorers: G.Atkins (1) M.Collingride (1) L.Harrison (1) Man of the Match: Ian Palmer --> |
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