Bottesford Town are out of the FA VASE Competition losing out by the solitary goal against Ashton Athletic to bring to an end their FA Cup aspirations for the 2013/2014 season.
The Birch Park oufit made a bright start to the game forcing 2 corners in the opening minutes of the game with a strike from Terry Barwick going narrowly wide of the target. The visitors responded from a break and winning a free kick outside of the penalty area which ultimately came to nothing. A series of corners and free-kicks followed for both teams in what was turning out to be a ‘scrappy’ affair, and it took a good save from the home keeper Christian Quibell to deny James Lawrence Forbes in the 25th minute followed by Luke Holden putting his header attempt over the bar!
The possibility of a goal for Bottesford looked on the cards when they were awarded a free-kick just outside of the box, but the strike from Martin Pembleton failed to get by the defensive line-up. With no team showing the decisiveness to break through with a goal and both keepers in fine form, the situation remained stalemate up to the half time whistle.
The 2nd half saw a more determined Bottesford team, Danny Boulton beaten to the ball by keeper Stephen Dryden followed closely by an opportunist strike from Craig Bridge that finished wide of the target. The opening 20 minutes of the 2nd half proved to be all one way traffic but despite the pressure on the visitor’s goal, Dryden supported by his colleagues managed to keep the Birch Park outfit at bay. Apart from the odd break from Ashton Athletic, the pressure continued from the home team, Chris Mcdonald bringing out a fine save from the keeper in the 75th minute followed by another excellent save to deny Boulton.
In an attempt to break the dead-lock, Luke Anderson was brought into the game for the home team in the 80th minute and instantly made an impression but as the game loomed towards extra-time, it was the visitors who nearly stole the game when from a break, Connor Anderson put his opportunity over the bar.
Moving into extra-time, Bottesford continued with the majority of possession sensing that a goal was on the cards, a couple of corners followed by another strike from Craig Bridge which ended agonizingly wide of the target. Following some clever football from Mcdonald, it took another excellent save from Dryden to take the game into the final session of the extra time.
In the 106th minute, Bridge saw his header attempt from a corner scrape by the post with the keeper beaten, the visitors responded from the long clearance with Ryan Small missing the target at the other end of play. Good football involving Anderson, Bridge, & Boulton came to an end with yet another save from the keeper.It turned out to be a ‘bizarre’ goal that broke the dead-lock in the 110th minute when the home keeper in punching the ball clear from a corner only manged to find the head of Joseph Hull who was pleased to see the end result being the ball crossing the line for what turned out to be the decisive goal.
Despite further intense pressure from Bottesford forcing 4 corners in succession and an excellent strike from Craig Bridge, it was proving not to be their day and at the final whistle, albeit disappointed, they could hold their heads high in knowing that they had done their part in what had proved to be a ‘tough’ competition.