Evo-Stick Southern 1 Central
Saturday 19th November 2016
A remarkable afternoon to say the least, although maybe not if you actually came to watch a football match. There were 9 goals, 5 sending offs and a spectacular comeback from 2 down with less than 10 minutes to go from the visitors who went home happy with all three points in the end. I suppose that counts as entertainment, it didn’t feel like a game of football but Fleet won’t care, and why should they!
In the context of the game and how it was refereed, the fact that there were 5 red cards shown is remarkable because it was only 5. There should have been at least one more which might have evened things up a bit but in the real world, a game that wasn’t nasty or difficult to manage was made that way and a game that should be remembered for Matty Allan’s hat trick or Fleet’s superb comeback won’t be.
Fleet took the lead inside 7 minutes when Cameron Watson diverted a cross past Niall Conroy but we turned the game around with two goals in as any minutes midway through the half. First Matty Allan’s persistence got him into position to shoot on the edge of the area and when his initial effort was blocked the ball fell nicely for him to rattle a left footed drive past the keeper to level the scores. A minute later Max York sent a fierce shot goalbound which the keeper could only parry, Watson reacted quickest to turn the loose ball home and we were ahead.
The first red cards came just before the half hour when Shaun Jenkins was dismissed after some pushing in the penalty area. He was followed, after some delay, by Ryan Pryce the Fleet keeper.
A couple of minutes after the break saw Conroy follow Jenkins and Pryce back to the dressing room, Pat Cox converting the resulting penalty to make it 2-2.
The game entered a relatively uneventful phase now with us sitting back and defending well 9 v 10 but with 12 minutes left on the clock Matty Allan (pictured) latched onto a loose ball and drilled a shot into the corner to give us an unlikely lead. Two minutes later and Allan added another to complete his second at trick in three games and we were 4-2 up with ten minutes to go.
Fleet immediately upped their tempo and threw men forward and Danilo Cadete pulled one back on 82 minutes when his shot from the edge of the area deflected past Chapman. Soon after and Cox had levelled the scores when his looping header found the top corner.
Anyone’s game with 5 minutes left but then it was Capel’s turn to see red, the youngster picking up a second innocuous yellow card that ended his afternoon early.
As the game entered added time Zach Hawker side footed a low cross home to clinch victory for Fleet against the remaining 8 Stutes but there was still time for the Referee to flourish another straight red, this time to Jake Chambers-Shaw for a challenge on Cadete.
Histon: Niall Conroy, Jos Gwynne (Danny Gould 23), Will Gardner (Jake Chambers-Shaw 38), Max York, Adam Capel, Cameron Watson, Ross Munro, Shaun Jenkins, Ben Yeomans, Matty Allan, Josh Coley (Aaron Chapman48).
Histon subs not used: Harry McGregor, Kieran Barnes.
Histon yellow cards: Adam Capel, Ben Yeomans.
Histon red cards: Shaun Jenkins, Niall Conroy, Adam Capel, Jake Chambers-Shaw.
Histon goal scorers: Matty Allan (24, 78, 80), Cameron Watson (26).
Fleet Town: Ryan Pryce, Dan Williamson, Jordan Chandler (Joe Sowden 46), Zach Hawker, Dan Rousell, Josh Harfield, Ben Toye (Brett Stanley 77), Craig Davis, Ben White, Pat Cox, Josh Francis (Danilo Cadete 77).
Fleet Town subs not used: Archie Fawcett, Craig Martin.
Fleet Town yellow cards: Craig Davis, Ben White, Josh Francis.
Fleet Town red card: Ryan Pryce.
Fleet Town goal scorers: Cameron Watson (OG 7) Pat Cox (50 pen, 84), Danilo Cadete (84), Zach Hawker (90+1).
Attendance: 113
