Icom Midland Combination Division 2 Saturday 5th March 2011 3 pm Kick Off
Bromsgrove Sporting (0 ) 3 v Young Warriors (3) 3
A terrible first half of football from Bromsgrove Sporting saw them ultimately relieved to take a point at home from their game against Young Warriors. Warriors had inflicted a 5-2 defeat on Sporting back in August in what was Sporting's inaugural competitive game.
Sporting started well and had three decent efforts on the Warriors goal to give the defence an early test. At the other end there were warning signs as Warriors broke quickly and gave Sporting's defence a lot of work to do. It was only some poor finishing from a free header that prevented an early lead for the visitors. That free header should have provided a warning to the Sporting defence but if they received it they failed to heed it.
On 20 minutes a corner came into the box and some woeful defending saw Nduna take advantage with another free header which was this time planted firmly into the net.
Another set piece on 31 minutes led to Ndlovu scoring a second for the visitors as an innocuous free kick from 30 yards out was poorly defended and the on rushing forward headed home before keeper McGettrick could take the ball from him.
Four minutes later and Maramba made it 3 - 0 as Young Warriors capitalised on more defensive confusion and in between the goals McGettrick was fortunate to save on the line as the unmarked Nduna shot straight at him when it looked easier to score.
With a 3-0 scoreline at half-time it looked to be a matter of how many more the visitors might score in the second half but a transformation engineered by Head Coach Stewart Brighton at half-time made for an exciting second period. The line up was rearranged from a 3-5-2 formation to a more conventional 4-4-2 and Chris Bright replaced James McKeon.
Almost immediately, the changes paid off and skipper Neil Cooksey got a goal back as he headed home from a Harris corner , despite the linesman flagging for an offside as the referee overruled his assistant. Young Warriors continued to push on and were dangerous going forward but in trying to get a fourth they left room at the back for Stuart Hall to beat the defence and score with a great strike low to the keepers left on 58 minutes.
On 65 minutes Sporting were almost level as Ryan Molesworth broke through the back line and chipped the ball over the keeper only to see it come back off the foot of the post for the keeper to fall on it.
Regrettably, the game degenerated a little as Warriors employed delaying tactics and both teams got involved in some scrappy moments of play. Such were the delays that referee Mr Cooke played over 10 minutes of injury time at the end of the game. It was after a couple of these minutes that the most controversial incident occurred as the Warriors keeper was caught by a forward but appeared to employ some play acting and kicked the ball out to receive attention and to spectators employ some dubious delaying tactics. Consequently, when the throw was taken the ball was not played back to the defence and whilst they did get possession it was only briefly and it seemed the keeper tried to convince the referee he had been fouled by throwing himself to the ground as Chris Bright lofted the ball into the net for a last gasp equaliser for the home side.
There was still time for Sporting to miss one last chance as the keeper did just enough to put off Barnes who headed over when he looked likely to score.
Sporting have no game next week but will be looking to get back to winning ways against Leamington Hibernian at the Victoria Ground on 19th March.
Sporting team; McGettrick, Molesworth, Rogers G, Allen, Cooksey (Capt), Brookes, Wilkes, McKeon ( sub Bright 45), Barnes, Hall, Harris.. Subs not used Siviter Jamie, May, Blood, Biddle,
Young Warriors; Mkhwananzi, Dube ( sub Mazwi 65), Muzungwana, Mparutsa, Johnson, Evans, Dusabe ( sub Nemasango 65), Nduna, Maramba, Maphosa ( sub Ncube 87), Ndlovu. Subs not used Dakouri, Hannigan
Attendance 326.
Man of the Match: Stuart Hall
