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26th
April
2004
Peacocks Lose Out in Cup Final (24/4/04) Gornal Athletic lost the chance to collect some silverware by the slimmest of margins on Saturday, when they were beaten 5-4 on penalties in the Birmingham County Vase by Polesworth, the match ending 2-2 after extra-time. I knew it was going to be one of those days when I arrived late, after a torrid journey trying to locate the ground. Believe me, Brigadoon is better signposted than Great Barr. It was a scorching day and on a perfectly presented pitch honours were more or less even in the opening exchanges. Gornal seemed to have the edge on class and forced a steady stream of corners in the first half, whereas their opponents looked marginally more 'up' for the game and had the best of the direct attempts on goal. With a few minutes to go to the break I wrote in my notebook "not having it all our own way, get to half-time 0 - 0 and our better fitness will tell". Needless to say we immediately conceded a goal, losing concentration at the back to allow the Polesworth goal machine Rook to fire home. In the second half Gornal looked more purposeful and gradually applied pressure to a Polesworth side that were struggling to keep pace. The Peacocks came close on a couple of occasions and there was an air of inevitability about the equaliser, which came after half an hour thanks to a determined run on goal from Aiden Edmunds. The match went into extra time, the first period of which was largely uneventful except for a chance made by Gornal captain Tiernan, who unselfishly passed across to Mark Habbershaw for what seemed to be a routine finish. Unfortunately the shot was weak and Polesworth breathed again. Five minutes into the second period of extra time Gornal got the break through that should have clinched the match. The ball fell to Dave Bate outside the area who thundered home a great shot. Managers Martin Thomas and Tony Wall have proved on more than one occasion this season that they are tactically astute when it comes to closing out a winning lead, which made our failure to keep control of the last few minutes all the more surprising. Gornal were not helped by an injury to striker Habbershaw which effectively cut us down to ten men, having played all of our subs. Stricken by a hamstring pull or severe cramp Mark gamely limped on, but he was not able to tie down defenders in his usual way and the team began to defend much too deeply. Literally in the dying seconds of extra time Polesworth got the goal they needed after a desperate punt into the Gornal penalty area was not dealt with effectively. As so often happens, the team coming from behind have that 'nothing to lose now' confidence and Polesworth depatched their penalties with more conviction than the Gornal lads, the last of whom (it wouldn't be fair to name him because the match should have been won well before then) saw his shot saved. Gornal were last finalists in this competition twelve years ago, again losing narrowly, so it is to be hoped that the next search for cup glory comes quickly and has a more successful conclusion. In the mean-time the team remain within a hair's breadth of winning their League - ample compensation for this temporary setback. sport@yampy.co.uk. --> |
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