Unofficial Archiver watched today's FA Cup match:
There’s a road just outside the village that i live in called “Shambles Close”, and for me today the Shambles was very close by indeed – a short 30 minute drive across the county to Coalville Town, which it has to be said is a fairly nice little ground – basic but with a steep embankment behind the one goal.
The 1st half was about as one sided an affair as you could imagine as Hereford should have been 4 or 5 up at least at half time with Bilal Yafai looking particularly good in midfield. The 1st goal was bundled home by Serge Mo Diop at the near post from a Traore cross on 15 minutes – this was after he had missed a similar chance, and Yafai had forced the keeper into a decent save. The 2nd goal was gifted to Yafai after a Ellistown defender tripped over the ball leaving the midfielder the relatively easy task of firing past the keeper. Baker-Kone missed a decent opportunity with a weak volley when well placed. For all the possession that the team in white had, far far too often they wanted to do a trick and embarras their opponents when a simple ball could have carved the lower graded opponents open – i think that Baker-Kone must be French “for will not pass the ball”, and he and Mo Diop certainly didnt impress as a times they didn’t seem particularly bothered – A Steve Guinan or an Adam Stansfield type attitude would have seen a hat-trick of goals against them.
Half time saw the introduction of Bradley Fortnam-Tomlinson for Baker Kone, but it was the Ellistown subs that made the real difference. The 2nd half turned on a moment of stupidity from Traore – he was bought down outside the Hereford box, and grabbed hold of the ball as he expected a foul – the referee pointed to the spot as it was blatantly deliberate handball – regardless of whether it was a foul or not, he should not have done what he did. A secure spot kick gave Luke Williams no chance and Ellistown scented blood. One of their substitutes bundled home an equaliser a few minutes later after a goal mouth scramble and from then on there was only going to be one winner, and that winner didnt take long to arrive, the no.11 for Ellistown (Johnson i think) showed good composure when one on one with Williams to send the home fans “wild”
Steve Vetier and Jordan Jivanda came on for Hereford during this turnaround – Jivanda making his debut replacing Luis Cutajar (i think), who had to leave the field through injury.
The referee gave the bulls a lifeline in the final minute of the game when Yafai was adjuged to be fouled in the box – up stepped Javia Roberts but his penalty was well saved by the keeper and this proved to be the last kick of the game.
I wish i could say that i was gutted that we threw it away – but i found it amusing, and just goes to show how far removed from my heart the club is now. A few vocal supporters gave their support for Tommy (who must have been a guest today as he was once again in the Directors Box despite being banned by the FA from having any involvement in the club) but i hope that was the alcohol talking – i dont want to critise a fellow fan, after all we’ve all been through a hell of a lot during our time, but seriously???
The only unfortunate thing is when the judges finally get tired of the promises, this result will be removed from history – Ellistown & Ibstock United don't deserve that – certainly there fans deserve better – worth mentioning a couple of their chants
“Whats that coming over the hill, it’s the taxman”
“Bust in the morning, your going bust in the morning”
We can but hope!