Wick crash out of Peter Bentley Cup

An ill-tempered affair at the Sportsfield was settled by an 87th minute goal by the veteran striker (and ex Wicker) Paul Elliott who out muscled Nathan Ediker to win the ball and finished from a tight angle. Littlehampton were down to just 9 men at the end of the game having had Alex Fair and recent returnee Mitchell Hand sent off by the referee Anthony O’Brien. Mr. O‘Brien certainly had a very busy night as he also dismissed Littlehampton coach Dave Jordan and booked 6 other players. At the end of the game there was almost a mass brawl between the players from both sides which neither club can be proud of.

The match itself was rather short on quality with very few goal scoring chances being created. Town’s Paul Elliott’s header skimmed the crossbar after 27 minutes and for Wick David Crouch’s low shot was pushed around the post by the Marigolds keeper just before half time leaving the half scoreless 0-0.

The game exploded after 76 minutes when Alex Fair was shown a yellow card and then a red card by Mr. O’Brien. It did look like the referee had made an error because I had no record of him being booked. However it became academic after Fair made threats to the ref so off he went! Immediately after Elliott’s goal, Mitchell Hand was dismissed. Hand had to be encouraged to leave the pitch by his brother Danny who had just come on as a substitute for Wick!

Mr. O’Brien did not have a good match and appeared to be losing track of the game, his night being summed up by the incident when Littlehampton full back Dominic Haward and Wick’s Jack Bingham had a coming together. Mr O’Brien rightly booked both players and then attempted to send Haward off wrongly believing it to be his second yellow. Haward implored the referee to check with his assistant which he did and the referee had to reverse the red card! (Frightening parallels with the Fair episode it seemed).

In many ways a rather disappointing night for SCFL football and for Wick a defeat in a game that was winnable, A tough test is up next on Saturday when they visit Midhurst and Easebourne.

Man of the Match: Alex Kew easily Wick’s most potent attacking threat on the night.

Wick; Belcher, Chaplin, Bingham, Janman, Rodgers, Ediker, Kew, Playle-Howard, Cole, Crouch, Cox. Subs: Thorpe, Hope, Hand Not used: Weir, Horn

Courtesy of Steve Cox