First team go out of Cup away to CRC

RIDGEONS LEAGUE CUP - 2nd round - WEDNESDAY JANUARY 19th
CRC 3 BRANTHAM 1
Brantham (sponsored by Kensington) travelled to CRC and as the saying goes -"So near- but yet so far away" and that just about sums our cup match up . There had been a lot of phone calls between ourselves, CRC, the league and the referees as at one stage the game was going to be played at Brantham but then after the FA informed us that they couldn't change the referees it was back to Cambridge. We were key men short, Marc Lowe still getting over his injury from last Saturday's game and defender Andy French could not get off work in London in time to get to the match. This meant that manager Tony Hall had to shuffle his team line-up about once again. We started off with Ryan Bedingfield making two good stops early on and minutes later the ball was put into the CRC area and Ollie Mann outjumped everybody to power a header goalwards only to see the keeper make a top class save. CRC hit back straight away and their centre forward sent in a hard shot that hit the post before being cleared by Bedingfield for a corner. CRC took the lead when the ball was played into our area and their man was given all the time and space he needed to head home at the far post. CRC were concentrating a lot of their attacks down both flanks and minutes after the goal they could have added a second when a forward was allowed to run through and shot at goal only to see Ryan Bedingfield deflect the ball round for a another corner. Towards the latter part of the half we started to settle down and we were knocking the ball about well. This paid off when David Grimwood did all the hard work before putting the ball through for Ollie Mann to run onto and Ollie turned his marker and struck the ball home straight and true. 1-1. In the last minute a good attack ended with Adam Bloss running in on goal and it looked as if might score but CRC managed to get the ball off their line and clear. We started the second half as we had finished the first by taking the game to our opponents. Sean Gunn broke through and laid the ball off into the path of David Grimwood whose shot was cleared by a frantic defence. Minutes later the ball was played to Kieran Lawler and from a good 25 yards out Kieran hit it and the shot beat the keeper but smacked against the woodwork. This seemed to wake our opponents up and realise they were in a game and they regained their advantage when a pass into the area went unchallenged and their man made no mistake with a header into the net. We made changes with Danny Garrad, Shaun Webb and Lee Willcox all coming on during the second half . All soon got involved in the action and Shaun Webb made two important headers almost as soon as he came on. The game was over when CRC added the killer third goal when a forward was allowed all the time he wanted to place his shot wide of Bedingfield. CRC are a young side and have the benefit of being able to train every day and that came through. They knocked the ball about well and had all of the tricks that you can associate with a team who are involved at the level they are. But all credit to our lads, who despite being down, still ran and chased every ball. Our thanks to the people who made the journey at short notice to come and support the team.
Brantham - 1.Ryan Bedingfield. 2.Kieron Smith-Edwards. 3-Chris French. 4-Jono Crouch. 5-Jack Sibbons. 6.Kieran Lawler. 7-Adam Bloss. 8.David Grimwood. 9.Ollie Mann. 10.Sean Gunn. 11-Lee Grimwood. subs used - Shaun Webb, Lee Willcox, Danny Garrad. subs not used -Nathan Munson
---barry felgate--