12/01/2014
MATCH REPORT
In what was billed as the Cobras all important return to league action, the game ended up as a nothing match, due to the referee judging the pitch to be unplayable. Never the less, the game went ahead as a friendly, reffed by an opposing team player. Clarendon, the league leaders, had a full strength starting XI. The same could not be said of ourselves, with a mixed bag containing a few unfamiliar faces mixed in with the regulars.
The Cobras enjoyed their best spell of the game within the first 15 minutes. The terrain dictated the way in which the game had to be played; a bobbly, hard and icy surface meant a passing game would not be an option. Cave took a deserved lead early on through Fraser Davis, a clean but unspectacular strike beating the opposition goalkeeper who may have hoped to do better. Despite the bright start, Cave couldn't hold onto their lead. A failure to clear the ball gave the Clarendon forwards a number of bites at the cherry and unfortunately, one found its way into the bottom left hand side of the net.
A new face in goal for the Cobras made a number of impressive one-on-one saves but had a moment to forget when the hosts took the lead. A poor kick landed at the feet of the oppositions forward who willingly took advantage, giving the home side a 2-1 lead. Two soon became three at the beginning of the second half, in somewhat controversial fashion. A three-on-two counter attack came to the Clarendon forward who seemed to almost catch the ball before eventually scoring. However, the referee saw no wrong-doing and the goal stood.
The side could've collapsed at that point but did not, a questionable 4-2-4 shape was anything but textbook but in the last 10 Cave began to threaten once more. A nice delivery by Fraser was met by the head of Alex Churchill, scoring his first goal for the club. Churchy almost had a brace only minutes later with another corner kick, a carbon copy of the earlier one, was this time flicked off the line. An unfortunate loss in a fortunately meaningless game, Cave held their own and showed once again how much better we could and should be doing.
FULL TIME:
Clarendon FC 3-2 North Cave Cobras
SCORERS:
Fraser Davis and Alex Churchill
