Handsworth Parramore 2 v Ollerton Town 1 - NCEL LC QF

Thursday May 3rd 2018
Toolstation NCEL League Cup Quarter Final
at Sandy Lane
Handsworth Parramore (2) 2
Steve Istead 2
Courey Grantham 25
Ollerton Town (1) 1
Gavin King 42
Admission: £5. Programme: £1.50.
Attendance: 150.
Half time draw winner: me again!

Well, credit where it is due. Ollerton Town certainly weren't just here to make the numbers up tonight, and the glowing tributes in praise of the way that David Winter's side had approached the game, from the Ambers rank and file, regular supporters and Twitter followers, paid testament to just how close the visitors had actually come to taking this quarter final tie into extra time, at the very least. Even though Handsworth had taken the lead inside the second minute, when John Hills picked out Steve Istead just outside Town's area and his first time strike took a deflection off of Callum Atkinson and looped over Joe McCormack and nestled in the back of the net.
Lewis Bingham almost put Ollerton on level terms within moments of the opening goal, but his shot was blocked on the line.

Sean Dickinson rolled a through ball into the path of Lewis Weaver, but Jamie Green, possibly the twenty fifth or sixth keeper that Parramore have used this season (but, that needs clarifying), dived in to bravely gather the ball at the Town centre forward's feet.
Green was soon in action again, blocking a Gavin King half volley from the edge of the area.
Bingham approached the Ambers defence and paused momentarily to let King make a run, before chipping the ball over them for the prolific goalscorer to chase after, but Lee Cooksey made a timely interception.

Ollerton kept pressing, looking for an equaliser, as a rumour swept the ground that they had all eaten four whole Shredded Wheats for breakfast this morning.
Callum Atkinson was a whisker away from putting Liam Cooper's left wing free kick just inside the post, bur Ozzy Radford scrambled the ball away to safety.
Handsworthwere saved by the left hand post, when King picked up the ball, stormed through the left channel and spanked the ball past Green and against the upright.
Parramore brushed themselves down after coming under a bombardment of pressure and McCormack had to pull of a save at full stretch from Jamie Green after Hills had knocked the ball sideways to him.

Eagle eyed readers will probably think that I have identified a player wrongly at this juncture, given that Jamie Green was in fact the home side's keeper tonight, but there were two different Jamie Green's on the team sheet tonight. So although everything else I've written is probably inaccurate nonsense, at least I got that bit right.
McCormack was called into action again shortly afterwards, when Brad Nicholson tested him from the left hand edge of the area and in the twenty fifth minute, he was picking the ball out of his net again, after the home side doubled their lead, in spite of Ollerton having had so much of the ball thus far. Courey Grantham started his run towards their goal from around forty five yards out and upon reaching the edge of the area, calmly, but emphatically, drilled the ball past the Town number one.
Handsworth scored a third goal, of sorts, but when Hills directed a precision dipping header just under the cross bar, the ball had already gone out of play for a goal kick before it was crossed.

Ollerton certainly didn't deserve to be three goals behind and I have it on good authority that Harry Kane was going to claim the goal anyway.
Bingham went close with a dipping effort that dropped just wide of the right hand post, before Green shot well off target at one end, while the other Green caught Sam Stretton's close range stab at the ball at the other... and then just before half time, Ollerton pulled a goal back, when King put in a lung busting run to get into the heart of the Ambers defence and deftly nicked the ball past Green from an acute angle. That's King's eleventh goal in eleven games for the visitors and brings his season's total to twenty nine. Impressive, eh!?

HT: 2-1

During the interval, that vastly unpopular excuse for a human being, who puts THE66POW blog together, purely out of spite to have a dig at his numerous sworn enemies (or so I've heard said), won a very suave looking bottle of Rose' (none of your Echo Falls rubbish here) in the half time draw, again.
But he doesn't drink alcohol these days, so his good lady is in for a treat later tonight... though given that I have won such a large amount of plonk and chocolate at Handsworth Parramore (and Parkgate FC) of late and handed them all over to the Blonde Beelzebub (apart from the strawberry centres), she can't be far off turning into an alcoholic with type 2 diabetes.
Anyway, a big shout out to the ladies of a charming and pleasant demeanour, who (wo)man the turnstiles, sell the raffle tickets and look after the guests in hospitality at Ambers games, and always have an ingratiating smile and warm welcome for everyone... and the most stylish eyebrows in South Yorkshire too.

With all due respect, I think it is fair to say, that there are times when mi' 'owd sidekick Jas Colliver, the Ambers manager, borders on being a defensively minded coach... and after the break, Handsworth tweaked a few things to curb the visitors flow and movement, thus preventing them from running riot like they had for a long spell during the first half... but, you can't knock the hosts for adopting a safety first approach and grinding out a result against what was proving to be a really difficult opposition side to play against.
Besides; it's horses for courses in these one off, straight knockout cup games, especially when you've got a bunch of tired players and a make do and mend line up with several pivotal main picks missing.

Ozzy Radford, who'd put in a man sized shift to keep a lively visiting team (just about) at bay, crashed a free kick into the Ollerton defence's wall.
Kinnel! That must've smarted.
And then the man of the moment, Gav King, almost pulled his side level with a smartly struck shot on the turn, but Green was equal to it.
The game had a really competitive edge to it and though it was being well marshalled by a very competent team of officials, namely: Daniel Jarvis, Colin Unwin and Danny Guest (congratulations to the latter on his recent promotion up through the refereeing ranks), a coming together of a group of testosterone charged young men occurred, but Mr Jarvis dealt with it quickly and booked a player from each side to calm things down.

King versus Green (the goalkeeping one) was becoming something of a personal battle of wills by now, the former reached the ball first as both of them chased it in a 50/50 head to head, but as the Ollerton striker nudge the ball past the Ambers keeper, it rolled across the face of Handsworth goal and narrowly wide of the far post.
Dickinson delivered a measured cross towards, well... guess who? But this time he couldn't get enough purchase behind his shot and Green only had a relatively straight forward catch to make.
Eden Homer and Courey Grantham clattered into each other on the edge of the Ollerton area, as they both challenged for the ball, which fell invitingly for Parirs Dixon, who had the chance to put this game to bed, but hooked a dipping shot wide of the right hand post.

I've seen Dixon play a few times now, he's young and raw, but definitely ready to step up into men's football and full of bags of potential.
The visitors still hadn't given up trying to get back into this game and they finished it on the attack, with Radford blocking King's shot from Bingham's unselfish return pass, before Green smothered the ball in his goalmouth as King channeled it across the six yard box in stoppage time.
FT: Handsworth Parramore 2 v Ollerton Town 1

The Ambers will now travel to Liversedge on Tuesday night, while Bridlington Town host AFC Mansfield the following night in the other semi final.
I must say, both games are very appealing.
Ollerton Town's fixtures have all now been completed. Prior to tonight's close run game, they had finished their campaign with back to back home wins against Selby Town in the league and Grimsby Borough in the the League Cup 4th Round.