FA Vase First Qualifying Round
At Sandygate (the world's oldest football ground)
Hallam FC (0) 1
Jack McCarthy 84
Abbey Hey (1) 1
Adam Farrand 4
Admission £5. Programme £1.50. Attendance 180
Photo gallery, click HERE
These two sides have it all to do again at the 'Abbey Stadium' in the Gorton quarter of Manchester on Tuesday night, after neither of them could force the issue this afternoon, over the course of two hours.
This being the FA Vase, it is at the mutually agreed discretion of the two teams, how the outcome of games will be determined if the score remains level after ninety minutes.
They could've gone straight to a replay without extra time, or had an immediate penalty shoot out to settle things, or play an extra thirty minutes followed by penalties, if they still couldn't be separated, but in the event they chose to go to a replay after extra time, sans penalties.
And it wasn't for a lack of trying on either sides part, especially in added thirty minutes, that the score remained 1-1 until the natch referee, Scott Mason, sounded his whistle to bring this First Qualifying Round tie to it's indecisive conclusion.
The 'Red Rebels', who were formed as Abbey Hey Working Mens Club in 1902, are mere babes in comparison to their hosts today, who are the second oldest football team in the entire world with origins stretching back to 1860 and play at the oldest ground... but if you didn't already know about that stuff, then you are more than likely reading the wrong blog.
Hallam attacked first, but having raced into the visitors area inside the opening two minutes, Mitch Dunne found himself surrounded by red shirts and he was so heavily outnumbered that he found himself being crowded off the ball.
So did this safety in numbers approach indicate that the visitors thought that adopting a bus parking defensive game plan, was the best bet for getting through this game on level terms before finishing the job off at the Abbey Stadium on Tuesday?
Apparently not!
Hallam attacked first, but having raced into the visitors area inside the opening two minutes, Mitch Dunne found himself surrounded by red shirts and he was so heavily outnumbered that he found himself being crowded off the ball.
So did this safety in numbers approach indicate that the visitors thought that adopting a bus parking defensive game plan, was the best bet for getting through this game on level terms before finishing the job off at the Abbey Stadium on Tuesday?
Apparently not!
Because in the fourth minute, the Mancunians were ahead.
Jack Tinning launched a long throw in, into the Hallam area, that was half cleared but only as far as Benito Lowe, whose goal bound shot from just outside the box was block by Gaz Griifiths, but Adam Farrand got to the loose ball first and buried it emphatically into the back of the net.
The 'Countrymen' dusted themselves down and tried to get straight back into the game, but when Harry Bamforth knocked the ball towards Chris wood, it became apparent that Rob Swallow had dropped back into some kind of improvised sweeper role in front of the visitors already tightly knit back four.
Bamforth's ball into the Abbey Hey goalmouth was cleared by Andrew Smith and when Alex Brown, Sam Fewkes and Danny State combined to get forward down the left, Jack Tinning move across quickly to avert the threat they posed.
I had a quick scan around the ground to see who else was here today and spotted Uriah Rennie (Hallam FC club president), the Worksop Town manager and most handsome man in the NCEL: Ryan Hindley, most of the Handsworth Parramore committee (there were ten ex Ambers players in the Hallam squad today) and who I thought was Jas Colliver, the Handsworth manager, but unless he's had his favourite player: Pat Lindley, surgically removed from his right hand side it must just've been someone who looked like Jas.
Quite by accident, I found myself getting caught pointing my thing at; that is to say inadvertently aiming my zoom lens towards; Hallam's 'Twitter feeder' Sharon Fudge once too often. But I have apologised for what must've inadvertently appeared to be stalker like behaviour on my part.
Away from my snooping and perving, Lee Wilshaw was putting in a great shift at the back for the visitors, whilst Hallam's centre forward Chris Wood must've thought that he adopted a shadow that kicked him, whenever he got the notion to do something creative with the ball.
Bamforth was fouled around forty yards out from the visitors goal, by Lowe, who as well as showing that he was a great competitor and a well above average footballer, had the tendency to display a few volatile traits. It came as no surprise when he found his way into the referee's notebook later in the game nor that he was substituted shortly afterwards, for what were either tactical reasons, or a precaution against him getting a second booking.
Wood and State were banging on the visitors back doors but Abbey Hey were strung rigidly across the edge of their area like a row of Japanese Terracotta Warriors, but as they cleared the ball away for the umpteenth time, it fell to Brown out on the left and he let fly from long range. Elliott Wynne gathered the ball as it skidded towards him in a manner that Barnes Wallace would've been proud of, but it was worth having a go on such a wet and slippery wicket.
Dunne got free of his marker's attentions and crossed towards State at the back stick, who towered above the visitors defence but his header cannoned off of the visitors captain Smith, who kept his footing and hooked the ball away as Wood homed in to take advantage of any slip.
Although the 'Red Rebels' back line were very well drilled and organised, State, along with Dunne, had begun to find their way through the defensive maze.
But still that elusive equalising goal wouldn't come, no matter how much the home side kept plugging away.
Matt Cook made a last ditch clearance from Dunne, and Wilshaw nicked the ball away from Griffiths as he challenged for James Reed's free kick as the visitors defence began to creak under a spell of pressure from the second oldest club in the world.
Bamforth dispossessed Sam Freakes (what an awesome surname he's got) and knocked the ball wide for Dunne to break forward, but the live-wire number seven was flagged offside as Tinning, the Abbey Hey number three, managed to make himself completely invisible to the linesman on the cricket field side of the ground, which is quite an achievement when you are wearing a bright red shirt.
Oh well, these things even themselves out over the course of a game... and when all is said and done, he was only three yards goal side of Dunne and playing him on.
You can't realistically expect the assistants to see everything, especially when they're struggling to stay upright, galloping down a hilly touchline in a torrential downpour.
David Darwent tipped a dipping effort from Swallow away from beneath his bar and Blake missed an absolute sitter from Tinning's left wing cross.
Nathan Edwards combined with Freakes who laid the ball back to him, but his adventurous shot end up in a front garden next door but one to the Plough on Sandygate Road.
Meanwhile, Matt Morton spanked the ball over from ten yards out after the eternally lively Reed had created the chance for him.
ET HT: 1-1
Reed chested the ball down into the path of Dunne but he couldn't keep his shot down and the chance went begging.
There were some tired limbs out on the park now and so many people blowing out of their backsides, that the met office issued a warning about a dark smog cloud gathering over a sports field in the Crosspool area of Sheffield S10.
In spite of the obvious fatigue some players were showing, they were getting by on pure adrenaline now and both sides were still creating chances aplenty.
Reed and Morton, both had chances to claim the spoils that flew narrowly wide
But still that elusive equalising goal wouldn't come, no matter how much the home side kept plugging away.
Matt Cook made a last ditch clearance from Dunne, and Wilshaw nicked the ball away from Griffiths as he challenged for James Reed's free kick as the visitors defence began to creak under a spell of pressure from the second oldest club in the world.
Oh well, these things even themselves out over the course of a game... and when all is said and done, he was only three yards goal side of Dunne and playing him on.
You can't realistically expect the assistants to see everything, especially when they're struggling to stay upright, galloping down a hilly touchline in a torrential downpour.
Wynne turned Dunne's dipping shot away from Reed's corner kick as the clock ticked down towards half time. Lowe flattened Brown out on the left wing, once again letting his red mists take precedence over his common football sense.
From Reed's free kick, it became evident that Smith must be going to 'Magic circle' meetings with Tinning, as he held State in a bear hug that apparently went unseen, but the Hallam number eleven still manged to lay the ball off the Brown, despite being wrestled, quite literally to a standstill and the resulting cross picked out Griffith's whose powerful header was tipped over the bar by Wynne.
The inevitable yellow card for Lowe, when he 'came together' with Bamforth in the centre circle, was swiftly followed by one for his opponent, who un-tucked the Abbey Hey number ten's shirt while he was being reprimanded, to check out his washboard stomach and abs.
"Don't bite Benito! You can see what they're up to!" shouted the visitors manager, but the mind games had reached an advanced stage by now.
Besides, I must ask... should it actually constutute a bookable offence, to be caught checking out another players physique?
Gamesmanship and psychology is an underrated science if you ask me and for what it is worth, I thought Bamforth Junior's navel gazing episode was bloody hilarious.
Two minutes before the break James McCarthy put his header narrowly wide of the upright from Reed's pinpoint delivery, but as the half came to a close, Hallam had to defend a frantic spell of action around their own goal.
HT: Countrymen 0 v Red Rebels 1
From the restart Wood and State attacked down the right flank but Tinning bought his defence some time to close their ranks again by dispatching the ball out of touch. Brown launched another long throw in, which caused the visitors a few problems, but when the ball reached Wood, Wilshaw was still tracking the Hallam attacker's every move and blocked his resulting shot.
It was getting personal by now.
Ashford Blake, who had also moved back to adopt a defensive mantle after the break, as the visitors were anticipating Hallam chucking everything but the kitchen sink at them (in the event, I could swear blind that the sink was also evident inside the Abbey Hey area on at least three occasions), but although the visitors were shaken the longer the bombardment went on, they certainly weren't stirred and Dave Darwent had to be alert to the threat posed by a quick counter attack as the home side had to commit more and more players forward.
Blake missed his clearing header from Brown's throw, the ball bounced in front of Fewkes, who steadied himself in front of Wynne's goal, but as the home crowd started to rise from their seats in celebration, the shot skimmed off of the top of the crossbar.
Freakes picked up the ball and motored forward for the visitors, it was apparent that a one goal lead was never going to be enough, but the visitors number eight, almost provided the killer pass that would've put the game out of Hallam's reach, when he nudged the ball into the feet of George Noon, whose first time shot cleared the crossbar... and the perimeter fencing.
Farrand was probably a bit lucky to only gt a yellow card when he wiped brown out with a crude challenge after Reed had sprayed the ball out wide, Pick on someone your own size!
Reed's long free kick was cleared behind at the expense of a corner from Wilshaw and McCarthy was only a few inches away from scoring when he met Brown's flag kick with a firm header.
Brown was causing Abbey Hey a few problems with several different kinds of deliveries into their goalmouth and as Bamforth flicked on a long throw from his diminutive left back, Wynne had to bravely throw himself into a throng of bodies to claim the ball.
Hallam were giving it their all, but the NWCFL side were just about repelling the 'Countrymen' with a backs to the wall performance.
Time after time Hallam were repelled and the headline writers probably had some punny nonsense penned in readiness, along the lines of: Hey! If it's a saving you want to make, get the Abbey habit!
But thankfully, Hallam equalised with just over five minutes to go, so I can spare the blushes of the comedian who constructed that feeble title.
Reed delivered a cross into the visitors area from out on the right, but the ball was cleared back towards him and he instantly launched it back from where it had come from and McCarthy got a vital touch and bundled the ball past Wynne.
The road to Wembley was reopened and the home side celebrated as if they had just scored the goal that had out them in the final.
In the ninetieth minute, Wynne collected the ball cleanly from Reeds's corner after Hallam had been denied by a last gasp clearance from Wilshaw.
90 minutes: Hallam 1 v Abbey Hey 1
As the teams prepared for extra time, I put my notebook and camera down on the ledge behind the back row of seats, to free up my hands so that I could make a call home to advise the blonde Beelzebub that the game was over running and I was going to be late.
Having spoken to the world's most tolerant spouse, I picked up my notes and commenced scribbling whilst having an highly amusing conflab with John Stainrod from Handsworth Parramore, who is a veritable hive of funny quips, information and anecdotes, but take note, I haven't mentioned picking my camera up, because I didn't. And it wasn't until approximately a whole hour later, when I was back home in East Retford upon Idle, that I remembered where it was.
Thanks, thanks and thrice thanks to Glenn Poulton, who was still at the ground and recovered my Canon Power Shot for me and to Steve Basford, the Hallam chairman for arranging to meet me tomorrow to get the camera back to me. Top club, top people, silly arsed blogger!
Nathan Edwards combined with Freakes who laid the ball back to him, but his adventurous shot end up in a front garden next door but one to the Plough on Sandygate Road.
Meanwhile, Matt Morton spanked the ball over from ten yards out after the eternally lively Reed had created the chance for him.
ET HT: 1-1
There were some tired limbs out on the park now and so many people blowing out of their backsides, that the met office issued a warning about a dark smog cloud gathering over a sports field in the Crosspool area of Sheffield S10.
In spite of the obvious fatigue some players were showing, they were getting by on pure adrenaline now and both sides were still creating chances aplenty.
Reed and Morton, both had chances to claim the spoils that flew narrowly wide
In the closing moments of the extra thirty minutes, Darwent was involved with a couple of vital interjections.
In extra time stoppage time Hallam's State and Abbey Hey's Adam Hampshire, both had shots saved, just moments after Wilshaw had crashed a free header against the Hallam bar form Freakes left wing corner.
FT: 1-1
The two teams will see each other again in 48 hours, to settle the game at the Abbey Stadium.
FOOTNOTE: Added Tuesday 12th September at 22:07,,,
Hallam won the replay 1-0 courtesy of a Danny State penalty in the 72nd minute, I hope the sixty people who managed to get to the replay enjoyed it as much as I did this afternoon's dramatic and entertaining game.
