Tadley-Calleva 4-2 East Cowes Victoria - Match Report

It was a return to cup action this midweek as we played host to Wessex Division 1 side East Cowes Victoria from the Isle of Wight in the 1st round of the Hampshire Senior Cup.

The fixture had been pre-arranged to kick off at 20:15 due to the travel demands our visitors faced. However, at around 19:00 there was concern for whether the tie would go ahead or not due to a delay on the ferry carrying our opponents to the mainland. With ongoing communications with both East Cowes Vics representitives and the match officials, kick off was pushed back to the later time of 20:30 and the game was on!

Tadley started the much stronger side creating 3 half chances in as many minutes, the best of these chances coming from a ball across the box from the right which was narrowly missed by Brett Denham. A positive start to to the evening which only continued further into the first half.

On 11 minutes, Brett Denham was brought down inside the box after a through ball and the refereee immedietly pointed to the spot. The excitement of the 117 in attendance was quickly extinguished by the linesmans flag which ultimately overturned the penalty and a free kick was awarded to the visitors.

For the 10 minutes that followed Tadley continued to pile pressure onto East Cowes Vics. On 21 minutes the ball was played high through the middle to Brett Denham who knocked the ball over the on rushing goalkeeper to finish up putting the ball into the back of an empty net. Tadley's dominance was paying off.

Tadley-Calleva 1-0 East Cowes Victoria

With our tails up, some excellent footwork from Ben Wright managed to pull the defence apart and release Brett Denham into the right hand side of the visitors box. With a powerful, but controlled strike, Denham put the ball seemingly through the goalkeep and into the bottom far corner. An very well worked goal which gave us a comfortable 2 goal cushion going into the break.

It was a comfortable half for Tadley who controlled the game and forced East Cowes Victoria to soak up the pressure and play on the back foot. The lack of preparation clear going into the break.

The second half started opposite to the first. The visitors came out with aggression and intent, chasing down the ball and not giving Tadley anytime to play. For the first 15 minutes of the half, East Cowes Vics were in the ascendency, forcing the hosts defence into making some great tackles and some equally great saves from the ever impressive Craig Atkinson in the Tadley goal.

The game evened out after this point and on the 73rd minute, captain for the evening Alfie Saunders (Sponsored by D&D Property Solution) poked the ball home at the far post after a ball across the box. A goal that proved to be his last for the club as he completes a move to Vanarama National League South side Farnborough FC. We wish Aflie all the success for the future.

At 3-0 the game looked to be all but over however the visitors had different ideas. On the 80th minute a ball was played through which breached the Tadley defence. The shouts for offside were prominent with the ball being latched onto by Charlie Marsek but the flag stayed down and the ball was placed into the back of the Tadley net.

Could East Cowes Vics stage a dramatic comeback?

It was looking increasingly likely as no less than a minute later they had won the ball back and aggressively pressed forward. A ball in from the right was met by the head of Toby Snow to pull the score back to 3-2.

It wasn't to be however, from the 2nd kick off, Tadley had learnt their lesson and retained possesion well playing some nice football in and around the middle of the park. When the opportunity appeared to move forward they did just that. A ball played into Ben Wright was taken down well, as he tried to turn he was fouled and a free kick was awarded on the edge of the box. Ben Wright stepped up and delicately placed the ball up and over the wall, it found the bottom left corner and wrapped up the game for Tadley.

Another fantastic, confident performance in front of another excellent crowd of 117 under the lights and we are through to the 2nd round of the Hampshire Senior Cup. We will face Bournemouth Sports FC on Tuesday 13th September 2022 at Barlows Park. a 19:45 Kick off.

Bournemouth defeated Moneyfields FC 0-5 in the previous round.

Line-up; Atkinson, Allisaton, Saunders, Neal, Charsley, Johnston, Goater, Darboe, Denham, Wright, Haynes. Subs; Chambers, Walsh, Vockins, Vine, Brown