Buckland Athletic 1 Hamworthy United 1
F.A.Cup. Extra Preliminary Round (Saturday 15-08-09)
The Hammers arrived in Devon to bright yellow sunshine and to a sea of yellow shirts filling one of the best grounds we have visited in our travels. On a well prepared pitch and in blazing sunshine the game started well for the Hammers with two good chances missed in the first three minutes. Steve Llewelyn headed over from a good cross from Mark Jackson. Max Crow lobbed the ball over both the advancing keeper and the cross bar. Minutes later Mark Jackson took a free kick on the right hand side and cleverly went for goal putting his shot to the right hand side of the wall only to see the ball go narrowly wide of the post. The game flowed with both teams pushing for the opening goal, and both created, but failed to take some of the good chances made. United had Richard Jackson harshly booked for handball in the centre of the field, and Carl Mutch was booked for something he said to the referee. In the 41st minute Mark Johnson quickly took a free kick and aimed it to the far post. Carl Mutch headed it across the goal line, but in trying to clear the defender put the ball over the lineto put the Hammers in front. Hamworthy deserved going in at half time with this narrow lead as they had worked hard and looked disciplined and well organised.
The second half started with Jack Swan replacing the injured Warren Byerley. Again the Hammers started well with Mark Jackson having a very good debut game. He was causing the Bucks some problems with his crosses and free kicks. Both teams were pressing forward and the game was tense with just the one goal lead, Buckland put the ball into the net in the 70th minute, but the linesman flag was raised for offside before the ball was headed in. Minutes later United broke forward and as the ball was in the air just outside the box the Buckland goalkeeper and Carl Mutch clashed. Both were going for the header, but the referee gave Mutch his second yellow card that saw him leave the field. Most Hammers fans and players thought this was a very bad decision. If the opponent had been an outfield player attempting to head the ball a free kick or a yellow card would not have been given. However this does show that getting booked for needless backchat is a stupid offence, and does lead to these situations of receiving second yellow cards. Hamworthy now with ten men started to look shaky, and unsettled. This gave Buckland the lift needed to raise their game and United were now under constant pressure from the home side. Cannie replaced Swann in the 80th minute to assist in the Hammerstrying to keep possession of the ball, but Buckland were strong now and were after the equalizer. With 5 minutes to go United were under a lot of pressure, and as Max Crow attempted to play forward from the edge of the box the ball was won by Buckland. Their forward neatly slotted home the equaliser. Buckland were now sensing victory and it was going to be a long last 5 minutes for the Hammers.90 minutes were up, and they were hanging in there. In the 2nd minute of injury time a bullet of a shot from well outside the box was launched by Buckland. The shot hit the corner of the bar and post with such force you could see it bend. At last the whistle went and both teams exhaustedly left the pitch, and both sets of supporters headed for the bar to discuss the game. Congratulations must be given to both teams and thanks must be given to Buckland Athletic for such a warm welcome.
Team: S. Shergold, M. Jackson, S. Llewelyn, G. Horlock, T. Vavrecka, R. McCabe, M. Crow (J. Merrit). C. Mutch, W. Byerley (J. Swan, S. Cannie), R. Jackson. Unused Subs K. Middleton, O Cherrett.