Match Report – Paulton v Longwell Green Thurs 11th December

PAULTON ROVERS 2 – 4 LONGWELL GREEN

A dominant midfield performance from u16 player Teddie Davis, inspired Longwell Green to a 4-2 victory away at Paulton Rovers and become the first team into the semi-final draw of the Roger Stone Memorial Cup.

The groundsman at Paulton had done a fantastic job in getting the pitch prepared and ready following the recent poor weather, and whilst the ground was understandably soft, both teams stuck to their footballing principles.

A strong start from Longwell, playing down the slope and with a little help from the breeze, was undone after 10 minutes when the goalkeeper was undone by the ground conditions and the Paulton forward nipped the ball off him and rolled it into an empty net.

Longwell did not let that misfortune affect them and were back on the front foot from the kick off with a couple of crosses flashing across goal. On 15 minutes they were back level, when man of the match Teddie latched onto a pass following good work from another u16, Mali Dalphy and unleashed a 25 yarder into the top corner, giving the Paulton keeper no chance.

15 minutes later, Longwell took a 2-1 lead through a nice set piece routine, that saw captain Ed Randall score with a diving header at the near post following a free kick delivery from Ralphie Harvey.

Half-Time 2-1

Paulton came out in the second half full of energy and looking to grab the equaliser but Longwell continued to look dangerous on the break with some last ditch tackles and blocks from the Paulton defence preventing Longwell from increasing the lead. On 55 minutes, following a spell of pressure, Paulton grabbed an equaliser in fortunate circumstances when a cross was deflected, looped up and drifted over Hayden’s despairing dive on the breeze, 2-2 and game on.

The hosts continued to press for another goal but Longwell held firm and continued to create chances of their own. On 65 minutes they regained the lead, when a cross from the left was half cleared to Harry Peat just outside the box,  he took one touch to set it and then drilled it into the bottom corner – again the Paulton keeper could do nothing about it.

With nothing to lose, Paulton threw everything at Longwell but the defence of Noah Eddolls, Jaiden Brown, Ronnie Davis and Mali Dalphy stood firm. With 10 mins to go a ball was slipped through to the Paulton striker, who looked a number of yards offside, but the flag stayed down and he raced through one on one with Hayden looking for another equaliser. Hayden stood tall and made a great save.

The game moved into 3 minutes of injury time and with a minute of that left the hosts had a corner. Up came the keeper and with 21 players in the box the ball was delivered in. Longwell managed to defend it at the far post and it was yet another u16 combination with substitute Sam Green, releasing Mali Dalphy on the left hand side to race the length of the pitch with the ball. A chasing Paulton player tried to bring Mali down on the halfway line but Mali managed to keep his balance despite the contact and continued his run to slot into an empty net and grab his first u18 goal to the jubilation of his team mates.

Full Time 4-2

Image shown: Longwell Green MotM, Teddie Davis

This report was submitted by Longwell Green (Lee Williams, u18 Secretary & WCFYL Media Manager)

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