Tuesday 10th November 2009. Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup 2nd RoundOxford Street, Rossington
Rossington Main (0) 0
Sheffield FC (2) 7 (Will Senior, Matt Roney, Ashley Longstaff 4, Kirk Jackson)
Admission £4, Programme £1, Attendance 95
Winter warmerThe Rossington match day announcer welcomed the teams on the pitch, but accidentally greeted 'tonight's visitors ... Sheffield United!', he quickly amended this 'slight' error, but may have wished by the end of the game that it was the Blades in town instead of Sheffield 'Club' because at times tonight's actual visitors were unstoppable.
Ashley Longstaff almost opened the scoring for Sheffield, but his close range effort bounced down just safety's side of the goal line from the cross bar and back into play. There's never a Russian linesman around when you need one, but Longstaff would have a big say in this game's final outcome still.
On 15 minutes Will Senior opened the scoring from close range after getting onto the end of a well worked move between Longstaff and Kirk Jackson.
The visitors began to take control of the first half, without actually putting 'Rosso' to the sword. Not just yet anyway.
Ashley Longstaff almost opened the scoring for Sheffield, but his close range effort bounced down just safety's side of the goal line from the cross bar and back into play. There's never a Russian linesman around when you need one, but Longstaff would have a big say in this game's final outcome still.
On 15 minutes Will Senior opened the scoring from close range after getting onto the end of a well worked move between Longstaff and Kirk Jackson.
The visitors began to take control of the first half, without actually putting 'Rosso' to the sword. Not just yet anyway.
Matt Roney made a forty yard run and was clean through on goal but he hit his effort straight at Lee Appleby 'The Colliery' keeper.A few minutes later Roney charged into the box from the left again and appeared to have a fairly good appeal for a penalty ignored by the referee. The Sheffield bench shouted to the linesman for clarification but all he would say in response was "I'm just running the line" and shrugged away their appeal.
Paul Smith launched a long cross cum shot from out on the left wing into the box that clipped the cross bar and was put behind for a corner by Appleby.
It was fairly evident that Sheffield had an appetite for attack tonight and there were more goals to come. But Rossington still managed the occasional raid up field too and at this point weren't out of this game ... not just yet anyway II
Right on the stroke of half time, Roney seized on a defensive error, ran into the box on his own and put the ball into the back of the net like he'd been threatening to throughout the first forty five minutes.HT 0-2
The Black Eyed Peas were still thumping out over the tannoy as the second half started and continued to do so for a couple of minutes.
Upon hearing "Let's do it, let's do it, let's do it, let's do it again" Ashley Longstaff was obviously inspired to 'do it' ... four times.
On 49 minutes, he went up for a 50/50 ball with Appleby from a left wing cross that was falling out of the crisp Autumn night sky and just nicked it away from him at the last moment to put 'Club' three goals ahead.
Main did their best to reorganise and kept plugging away, but this wasn't going to be 'a good, good night' for them to 'live it up!'
On 62 minutes Longstaff charged through the middle of the Rossington defence, the linesman's flag stayed down and the in form striker lobbed the ball over Appleby who'd charged out to block him on the edge of the area and ran on to make sure he helped the ball over the line.Three minutes later Longstaff (yet again) beat two Rosso players for pace in the centre circle and left them in his wake to take the ball round Appleby and complete his hat trick.
Appleby wasn't having a bad game - Longstaff was having an awesome second half.
On 80 miuntes, the Sheffield number 10 hit home his fourth and his team's sixth from just inside the box and ought to have got his fifth with just a few minutes to go too, but Appleby managed to block his goal bound shot.
I guess if you're going to parry the ball away in the box then you really don't want to be doing it into the path of a striker of the calibre of the experienced Kirk Jackson, who duly hit home the rebound and Appleby's miserable night was compounded.
Ironically at 0-7 down Rossington Main began to knock the ball around better than they had done all night and had several chances that fizzed just wide of Leigh Walker in Sheffield's goal. But there wasn't even a solitary consolation goal in it for them.
Sheffield on the other hand and Longstaff in particular, could actually have scored more.
Rossington Main FC is a great little set up and the people there are really friendly and welcoming, I hope for their sake they don't come up against higher league opposition in such clinical form any time again soon. Fair play to them for still trying to up the ante when the game was already a foregone conclusion.
THE66POW
