Gedling MW 1-3 Kimberley MW

Gedling MW ................. 1 (Papworth 30’)
Kimberley MW...............3 (Coyle 7’, Eccleshall 64’, Pearson 70’)

Gedling were knocked out of the second qualifying round of the FA Vase by Kimberley Miners Welfare on Saturday (25 September) in an entertaining game at Plains Road.

It was the visitors who made the better start, and they deservedly took the lead, just seven minutes in courtesy of Aaron Coyle. The Kimberley striker turned and, from 20 yards out, unleashed a venomous shot which sent the ball flying into the back of the net.

The goal boosted Kimberley’s confidence and they began to dominate the game, enjoying a string of chances in the process.

Cameron Vickers conjured two good opportunities in the space of two minutes, shortly after the opening goal. The first, saw him break down the right wing and burst into the box before cutting the ball back for Coyle who screwed his shot wide. The second saw Vickers himself waste the opportunity missing the target with his shot when he really ought to have scored.

With 15 minutes played, Gedling goalkeeper Matthew Simpson produced a super save to deny Vickers, who this time managed to get his shot on target.

Simpson was in the thick of the action again, a few minutes later. A back pass from one of his defenders sold him horribly short and Ben Sandhu latched onto the loose ball and rounded Simpson, only to drag his shot wide.

Gedling made the visitors pay for their raft of missed chances by finding an equaliser with half an hour played. The goal came from one of their first forays forward in the match. Niall Hylton broke forward only to be dispossessed just before he shot, however, the loose ball fell to Oliver Papworth and just inside the box he smashed the ball into the roof of the net with a confident finish. His second goal in two matches.

It was a fairly even end to the first half and the teams trudged off level at the break.

In the second half, it was Gedling who made the brighter start and enjoyed a consistent spell of pressure.

Greg Tempest was unlucky not to see his free kick put the Miners ahead but the ‘keeper made a good save to push the ball behind.

From the resultant corner, Gedling almost took the lead too, the ball ending up being headed just wide of the target.

Tempest, who was growing in confidence, then very nearly scored an absolute screamer. He hit a half volley, which he caught extremely sweetly, from the edge of the area, narrowly wide.

Then with 64 minutes played, just as it looked as though Gedling were the only team who would score, Kimberely took the lead completely against the run of play. Tom Eccleshall capitalised on a mix up at the back from the Gedling defence, raced through on goal and slotted the ball into the corner of the net.

Michael Pearson added insult to injury with a third goal just over five minutes later to put the game beyond Gedling.

The two quick goals out of the blue proved too much for Gedling to recover from and but for a late Rhys Harbottle shot, they offered little in the closing stages.

As the referee blew the final whistle, it marked the end of Gedling’s run in the competition for another year.

Gedling manager Andy Clerke said: “The first twenty minutes of the game we were well beaten really, second best side they should have had a few more. After that I thought the last twenty/ twenty-five minutes of the first half we did well to get back in it, scored a good goal, we looked the better side. I thought we were the better side for the first twenty minutes of the second half and then we’ve absolutely gifted the game away. At this level you can’t gift chances away in the way that we have and the second and third goals were quite frankly not good enough; horrendous defending.
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Gedling Miners Welfare – Matthew Simpson, Dwayne Brown, Kieron Lane, Ross McCaughey (Charlie Roberts 76’), Daniel Dixon, Josh Thornton (Kyme Mason 20’), Niall Hylton, Greg Tempest, Ruben Wiggins-Thomas, Oliver Papworth, Paolo Piliero (Rhys Harbottle 77’).