Wednesday 20th November 2013
At 'the Home of Football', Sheffield FC StadiumCoach & Horses Ground, Dronfield
Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup 3rd Round
Sheffield FC (0) 1
Andy Gascoine 57
Staveley Miners Welfare (1) 3
Jame Smith 41
Matt Thorpe 69
Josh Scully 76
Admission £7, Programme £2, Attendance 79
Poulter, Turner, Algar, Burrell (C) (Al-Hakam), Whitehorne, Stirrup, Roney, Gascoigne, Powell (Thomas), Fereday (Purkiss), Woolley
Staveley Miners Welfare
Dewberry, Hague, Austin, Smith (C), Dickman, Colliver, Lindley, Scully (Wafula), Vernon (Damms), Thorpe (Finlaw), Trench.
Unused sub - Butt
The Welfare will now travel to Worksop on Tuesday 10th December, where they'll face Parramore FC in the Quarter Final of the Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup.
Those who didn't brave the elements to watch this pulsating cup tie, will probably think of the 1-3 final scoreline as being something of a surprise, but I have no doubt that each and every one the 79 hardy souls who did turn out, would testify that the best team on the night won fair and square and were worthy winners over the 90 minutes of slog, hard work and guile. A fact that the home side generously acknowledged straight after the game, much to their immense credit.
Sheffield had their moments, but it was the visitors who adapted best to the ever worsening underfoot conditions and found the extra impetus required to keep the momentum going, to conquer both their illustrious opponents and the awful weather conditions.
Staveley were lively from the outset, but 'Club' started to make a few inroads deep into the visitors ranks through Matt Roney and Vill Powell.
Josh Scully, played Michael Trench in on goal, but the home side's defence closed ranks and saw the ball away from danger.
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| Spot the ball (Josh Scully has it) |
Andy Gascoine came close to breaking the deadlock but his 20 yard free kick was turned away by Martin Dewberry.
Sheffield's apparent urgency to get to grips with the game, spurred Staveley to go on the offensive and Jake Vernon tested Rob Poulter from 18 yards out, but his shot flew narrowly wide of the mark. Moments later, Vernon combined well with Josh Scully, but the Welfare number 8 couldn't keeper his shot down and put the ball over the bar.
Richard Stirrup had his attempt on goal blocked by Dewberry and Staveley broke from end to end and almost went ahead when Trench intercepted an attempted header back to Poulter by Ben Turner, rounded the keeper and was unlucky to see his goalbound knock cleared via a last ditch interception by Joe Whitehorne.
With half time rapidly approaching, the ball fell to Jamie Smith 25 yards from goal and with both his running and passing options rendered inert by the mud, he unleashed an unstoppable curling shot past Poulter instead.
Vill Powell was just inches away from equalising right on half time after Pat Lindley had done just enough to force Fereday into rushing his cross instead of allowing him to put the ball on a plate for his player coach.
HT 0-1
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| Spot the scoreboard 1-3 |
Two corners in quick succession and a Nicky Hague cross in from the right came to nothing.
Matty Thorpe played a telling cross into the path of Michael Trench, but he struggled to reach it as both goalmouths became quagmires and Sheffield were relieved to clear their lines.
Scully came close to doubling the visitors lead, but Poulter tipped his shot from 12 yards round the upright.
Jamie Smith tried to deceive Poulter with a low shot from outside the box, but the ball came to an abrupt halt in the mud in front of the homes sides keeper.
As so often happens when a team has had a glut of unconverted chances at one end, Sheffield went on the attack and amidst an almighty scramble in the visitors box, Andy Gascoine equalised at the second attempt after his initial shot had hit a team mate and rebounded back to him.
Matt Roney's slipping and sliding solo run, as cut out by Dewberry and the ball was cleared upfield as far as Thorpe out on the right flank of Sheffield's final third, he battled forward dragging the ball along through the mud and delicately, but deliberately lifted the ball over Poulter and into the back of the net, to regain the visitors lead.
And shortly afterwards Scully was unlucky when he ran on to James Colliver's through ball, but struggled to keep his footing and put the ball wide.
But Scully's luck was in shortly afterwards, when he took advantage of a defensive slip after Damms played him in on goal, muscled past Turner and drilled the ball beneath Poulter as he at full stretch to block the angle.
With 14 minutes to go, sitting on a two goal cushion, a resilient Staveley now stood strong, diffusing anything resembling a threat from Sheffield with a dogged determination across the middle of the park.
Matt Roney did find his way through once, but his shot cannoned back off the upright.
Inside the last five minutes, with the home side now looking beaten and ready to get out of the snowy blizzard that was developing and back into the warmth of their dressing room, Colliver once again played a well weighted through ball in for Scully, but his miscued his shot narrowly wide.
Not to worry, he'd already struck the hammer blow that finished Sheffield off with the Welfare's third goal.
An absorbing and entertaining cup tie came to an end, in a nick of time while the players could still get off of the swamp of a pitch and the spoils were all Staveley's.
FT - Sheffield FC 1 v Staveley Miners Welfare 3
