Bergholt Heath YFC – Results 12th January
BHYFC Under 9s vs Gt Bradfords
Bergholt Heath took on Great Bradfords on what was a rather sticky Bergholt pitch following on from the U11s match against Cornard earlier. The hosts were the brighter in the first half with some very slick passing creating a number of scoring chances for Ollie and James in particular, but found the Bradfords keeper in exceptional form. When Bradfords did attack, the Bergholt defence were able to restrict their opportunities to a minimum, the best coming when Freddie upended the attacker on the edge of the area. However, the freekick was sent over the bar. HT 0-0.
The second half started the better for the visitors when early on both Thomas L and a Bradfords attacker went tumbling together in the box. After a few seconds thought, the referee awarded a penalty to Bradfords whose striker smashed the ball into the roof of the net giving Daniel no chance. This gave Bradfords a lift and they went further in the lead when the striker broke through the Bergholt defence and coolly slotted the ball past Daniel. To their credit Bergholt did not give up and despite being on the end of some robust challenges continued to press, but once again the Bradfords keeper stood in their way making one fine save in particular when faced with Theo in a one-on-one situation.
Despite all her best efforts, the Bradfords keeper was only beaten when Oliver beat her with a piledriver from just inside the box. However it wasn’t enough for Bergholt and the visitors came out winners 2-1.
BHYFC Under 11s vs Cornard Dynamos Reds
The Under 11s manager, Pete Sanderson, was not available to lead his team and see his son Matthew put in a ‘man of the match’ display that saw them overcome a valiant Cornard team 2-0 with goals from Jack Tomlin and Freddie Scott-Yates.
Stanway Rovers vs BHYFC Under 15s – Open Cup Round 1
The Under 15s started the defence of the cup they won as under 14’s back in May with a short away trip to Stanway to take on fellow A league side Stanway Rovers.
Already without striker James Holden who has a knee injury that will keep him out until around the end of January, Bergholt were dealt a blow in the warm up with key midfielder Cairan pulled his abductor muscle ruling him out of the game and possibly for a further couple of weeks.
Despite this, Bergholt started the game brightly although the pitch was making their usual short passing game difficult against a team with a much more direct style. The first goal of the game went to the home team when a long ball forward looked like it was going to carry to the ‘keeper but held up slightly in the mud to allow the striker to get there first and coolly finish with Connor stranded. Bergholt huffed and puffed and had a few half chances to equalise, plus one clear chance that the home ‘keeper saved well, but went in at half time trailing 1-0.
The second half started with Bergholt applying more pressure and with a little more composure in front of goal they would have equalised. Against the run of play Stanway scored a second goal when Aaron miss-controlled and lost the ball to the striker who run directly into the area before turning back to finish well. Bergholt were shell shocked by this and for a few minutes it looked like the home team were going to walk away with the game. However a change of positions with Sam moving into midfield, James dropping back into central defence with Jamie moving to the right side, seemed to bring new life to Bergholt and they regained the initiative. Again chances came but were not taken. However with 10 minutes remaining Max got free on the right and drove into the penalty area, only to be upended as he went past the ‘keeper. Penalty. Ollie stepped up to send the ‘keeper the wrong way to bring Bergholt back into the Match.
Another switch of formation to 3 at the back saw Bergholt dominate the remainder of the game and they duly managed to equalise with just 2 minutes left when Mickey, now playing as left wing back, was put through to finish well into the bottom right hand corner of the goal. There was still time left for Stanway to launch another attack down their right but Connor in the Bergholt goal came out commandingly to claim the cross – and the striker too (who had to go off injured) – to send the match into extra time.
Extra Time
The first half of extra time was generally a one way affair with Bergholt piling on the pressure against a team who were now playing with 10 men, as their striker who was injured at the end of normal time had tried but could not continue and Stanway did not have any substitutes available. Jamie hit the post from a corner and the Stanway defence somehow managed to stop the ball crossing the all-important line on more than one occasion. The second half of extra time saw the striker come back on in a deeper role and, although not moving well, this helped Stanway balance the play up and it took Connor to make another save to keep the score level at 2-2 at the end of extra time.
Penalty shoot out.
Stanway took the first kick and scored, as did Ben for Bergholt. Stanway scored their second penalty, as did Luke. The home team missed their third with the ball going wide of the post, with Jamie scoring to put Bergholt into the lead. Stanway scored their fourth but then Mickey had his kick easily saved by the home ‘keeper. Connor then saved Stanway’s fifth attempt to allow Sam the chance to win the match for Bergholt with the final kick. Unfortunately he put his shot over the bar to take the shoot out into sudden death. The sixth taker for Stanway also put his shot over the bar and Max walked up to put his shot off the inside of the post and into the net to win the cup tie for Bergholt!
Final score AET: 2-2. Bergholt Heath won 4-3 on penalties
Bergholt Heath ‘man of the match’: after a draining couple of hours it was decided to award the whole team for an heroic effort to pull the result out of the bag, rather than an individual.
Next weeks fixtures Sunday 19th January:
- Oyster Youth vs Under 9
- Under 11 vs Wivenhoe Town, KO 10am
- Wivenhoe Youth vs Under 15