East Riding County FA Senior Cup R2
North Cave 2 Easington United 2
(At 90mins Cave won 4-1 on pens)
Once
again our interest in the various East Riding County FA Cup competitions is
over by the second round stage.
The
second weekend in November is the traditional time for us to remember those who have made
the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their country. In recent years it has also become the weekend in which we lament
the end of our County cup hopes for another year!
Following
the Reserves’ first round exit from the Senior Country Cup and last week’s
defeat for the Casuals in the Qualifying version, the First Team made its by
now customary exit against Humber Premier League opponents in the Senior
competition.
And so yet again there’ll
be no appearance for us on BBC Radio Humberside’s live quarter final draw.
But there should have been. For
despite travelling to Church Street with another depleted squad, sitting just a point
clear of the bottom following our worst league result in recent times and
facing a team riding high in their respective Step 7 competition, we should
really be celebrating a place in the last eight for the first time since 2008.
Anybody
actually at the game (and I acknowledge that this figure doesn’t stretch much beyond the
players and management of both teams) may wonder how I come to this conclusion
given the amount of possession and shots on target enjoyed by our hosts.
It is
because with less than ten minutes left we were sitting as comfortably as one
can when you’re holding a one goal lead and seeing little of the ball.
For all
their possession and territorial advantage, Cave appeared to have virtually run
out of ideas. They were reduced to shots
from all range and angles, few of which appeared to seriously trouble Mad John
between the sticks.
Manager
Sumo had used his depleted bench prudently, taking off veterans Gav and Wilky
and tweaking the shape to accommodate Smalls and new boy Wicksy, and we appeared
on course to close things out. Then Cave
equalised. But I’m
getting ahead of myself...
 |
| Perhaps not presenting Church Street in quite its best light? |
I have
always liked North Cave as a venue – and this despite us having a pretty poor
record there in all the time I’ve been involved with Easington.
Admittedly,
it’s a ground I hadn’t been too for many years prior to Saturday’s visit. Our last game there at First Team level was
back in October 2000, during the inaugural season of the Humber Premier League.
We’d
arrived at Church Street winless after five games but proceeded to break our duck with a
particularly gutsy 4-2 success. Our
goals were scored by Glenn Ratcliffe (2), Kenny Knott and Gavin Thurkettle, three residents of
Patrington Haven – a fact I remember due to my use of the headline “First win is Haven sent” in
that Thursday’s Gazette.
Eh, there’s a lot of thought goes into this sports reporting malarkey
y’know!
Despite winning the inaugural League Cup, Cave
resigned from the HPL at the end of that first season and were forced to make
something of a circuitous route back in.
Benefitting from the demise of a team at nearby Brough, the current Cave
team began as the Reserves string playing in the County League.
Returning
to the HPL in Division 1 a few years later, the club eventually gained promotion to the Premier Division in 2010/11, as runners-up to Beverley side Hodgsons.
The following season they finished fourth in the top flight and after a seventh place last season look on course for another decent campaign this time round. Despite
an eye-catching 0-5 home defeat by Hedon Rangers the previous weekend, they
currently occupy a top three position, behind evergreen
heavyweights Reckitts and reigning champions Beverley Town.
 |
| To be saved for later...or so I thought |
When
re-entering the ground over a decade on from that last visit, I was quite
amused to see that the only change would appear to be
the situating of a couple of dugouts. So
much for year-on-year progress as set out at the original meeting back in July
2000.
On the
plus side, the ground boasts a very tidy clubhouse inside which can be found
Sky TV (the Reading v QPR match was on live as we arrived). Of more immediate interest to me was the
sight of a hand-pump bearing the pin for Great Newsome Pricky Back Otchan. Oh yes, that’ll do nicely for later thought
I...
All the
times I recall playing against North Cave teams our opponents wore red. Not anymore.
As they went through their pre-match routine within yards of the
clubhouse it was in a rather natty all-orange affair. According to the lad who seemed to be in
charge of the bar, it was bought last season and he agreed it was a break with
tradition.
“About
time we broke with tradition too”, said Burt-on-Bus whilst admiring QPR’s bottle
and gold affair. “Summat like that would
be nice”.
“Shut up
you idiot” was my reply.
I was
disappointed to hear that Cave no longer attract the crowds they used to. Similar to us it would appear numbers
have dwindled in tandem with the loss of local players, despite the quality of
football improving.
“There’s
only three or four lads live in Cave now.
We’ve even had to move the training to South Hunsley”, our barman
informed us.
I told
him that was similar to us in terms of pulling players in from far and wide;
and he wouldn’t believe me if I tried to explain the situation with our
training at the moment!
 |
| Lest We Forget |
Both
teams lined up pre-match to observe a minute’s silence. It was impeccably observed save for the sound
of a ball being kicked against a wooden hut near the pavilion by a youngster
with his back to what was going on.
It
reminded me of other unfortunate ‘silence breakers’ – like the ice cream van at
Hessle Rangers on the corresponding afternoon last year or Pistol Pete
whistling away to his heart’s content when stepping out of the tea hut at South
Normanton a few years back – blissfully unaware that just a few yards away two
teams, match officials and both sets of management and supporters were stood in
silent memory of a player tragically killed in a recent road accident. Ooh, it took him a while to live that one
down!
 |
| Wilky Woo! |
At
kick-off there were barely twenty spectators lining the near roped-off
touchline, almost half of whom were supporting the Eastenders.
Initially
it looked like we could be in for a long afternoon as the hosts, obviously
chastened by their last result, started like men on a mission.
Crisp
passing and good movement immediately opened us up and Chris Short struck the
bar inside the first two minutes.
A goal
looked on the cards and arrived on quarter of an hour; another decent move
being capped by Ozzie Marsden’s low shot into the corner.
Thankfully
we didn’t crumble and we enjoyed a decent spell of possession. This in turn yielded a few corners and the
odd half-chance, one of which Tom Mac headed powerfully but unfortunately
straight at keeper Matt Johnson.
The
unfortunate Johnson was then to take centre-stage.
First he
made an awful hash of dealing with a backpass, which allowed Wilky to level
with the simplest of goals.
The Cave
keeper was then left floundering at his near post as JC’s thumping right foot
strike took him totally by surprise.
Nearly half the game gone and we led 2-1.
The
hosts threatened to level matters by the break.
Marsden headed over the top, while Short’s attempts to cap another
flowing Cave move were thwarted by fine reactions from Mad John. Half-time
arrived with us having one foot in the quarter-finals...
 |
| JC celebrates what should've been the winner |
Tempted
as I was to sample the aforementioned Pricky Back Otchan during the break, I
opted for a hot cuppa instead and settled down to watch some of the England v
Fiji rugby league world cup encounter from the KC while, just a few yards away,
Sumo and AG were no doubt urging their players to get tighter to their
opponents in order to secure a morale-boosting win.
And this
they did to some extent. Although it was
the hosts who made all the running, our back four coped admirably most of what
came their way. Meanwhile, we had
numerous chances to make things happen on the counter – leaving most of us
thinking what could have happened had the speedy Sam Huteson not been a morning
withdrawal.
All
around me the news was bad. The Stiffs
were losing at home to Wawne in the County Premier. City had shipped three inside the opening
half-hour at St Mary’s. But at Church
Street we continued to hold out.
With
just eight minutes remaining we forced a throw-in up near the right corner flag
in the Cave half of the field. I
distinctly remember shouting out for someone, anyone to squeeze up as the hosts
were allowed to take it unopposed.
Within
seconds the ball was launched upfield.
For almost the first time that afternoon Sam Mac was beaten to it and moments later sub Tom Moss had lifted the ball over John and into the
net; 2-2.
I think
we all knew then what the outcome of today was going to be.
A couple
of promising positions came to nought in the dying moments and at the final
whistle referee Chris Hitchcock called both captains to him to announce that
due to the poor light the tie would be determined by penalties. The feeling
of foreboding went up another notch.
Up
stepped Short, a standout player all game, and although John went the right way
it was 1-0.
Willow
strode forward and calmly tied things up.
Never doubted.
Damen
McMahon emphatically restored the hosts’ lead before Biggy Smalls emphatically
lifted his effort over the bar.
Advantage North Cave.
It was
3-1 thanks to Aaron Malton and when Johnson guessed correctly to deny Stef the
hosts were nearly there.
No.16
Jason Crisp applied the coup de grace with the by now obligatory “Pirlo pen”
and our County interest was at an end.
As I
trudged back to the clubhouse I assured myself that solace would be found in a
pint of Pricky Back. The guy in front of
me at the bar had the same idea...
“Sorry,
we’ve none left. We had a run on it on
Bonfire Night”
It
summed up the day – and our fortunes in the County cups perfectly: all
gone!
No comments:
Post a Comment