Tadley Progress in the Cup

Tadley Calleva 2 Burnham 1: Tuesday 6 September 2022

Tadley won a hard earned victory against a capable Burnham outfit at Barlows to progress to the next round of The Combined Counties Cup.. The boys in yellow dominated the opening stages which saw Ben Wright denied by the underside of the bar and not able to capitalise on a good further opportunity later. On 20 minutes , after midfielder Ousman Darboe was fouled, Wright set up the free kick 30 yards out. He then delivered an unstoppable , wonder strike with the outside of his right foot ,swerving into the top corner of the goal. Celebrations ceased when it was seen the assistant referee had raised a flag for offside for a home attacker. When the referee ruled the offender was not obscuring the goalkeeper’s view , the goal was allowed. It was Wright again minutes later who drew a save from Luke Wynn Linter, after being released by Aaron Parfitt.

But in the second portion of the first half Burnham responded strongly , exercising midfield control. Andrew Charsley in the unaccustomed right back role was booked stopping the progress with a heavy tackle on danger man Anas Igozouw. Approaching half time Burnham equalised through the same player. Cutting inside and throwing a couple of feints, he drove powerfully left footed into the Tadley net from 20 yards. This made clear that Tadley would face a challenge in the second half to overcome the increasing Burnham dominance.

Half Time Tadley Calleva 1 Burnham 1

The 2nd half response from Tadley was immediately promising though within 8 minutes home keeper Craig Atkinson was called upon to brilliantly thwart Tayo Avays in a one to one . At the other end Brody Peart in a good position just failed to convert Parfitt’s cross as his header went just wide of the near post . Ben Wright with a strain or knock was replaced by Jordan Goater who slotted into midfield freeing Parfitt to move forward. On 67 minutes a long throw from Brad Neal eluded attackers and defenders and was picked up by the hard working Brett Denham who scored with his left foot. Both sides made further substitutes with Chris Holton (ex Alresford ) coming on for Parfitt and contributing to the energetic home team performance. But again Atkinson had to excel in denying substitute Rhys Harper in a one to one. In the closing minutes (before a lot of added time) A one two with Horton saw Brett Denham chase the ball into the box and when his shot was parried Tadley players brilliantly closed down the opposition leading to Darboe being fouled. Goater confidently converted the resultant penalty.

Final Score Tadley Calleva 3 Burham 1

The game will be remembered for Wright’s wonder strike. But there were other welcome features: a steady debut by centre back Joe Commiskey, Atkinson’s excellence in goal, creativity within the team but also a more energetic performance to counter Burnham in the second half. A downside was two needless bookings for Darboe and Goater who have so much to contribute to the squad that we don’t want them lost by the tot up of penalty points.

Tadley Calleva: Craig Atkinson; Andrew Charsley , Brad Neal , Joe Cummuskey, Tommy Walsh (captain ); Sheldon Wright, Aaron Parfitt (sub Chris Horton 65 mins), Ousman Darboe (sub Ethan Hayman 95 mins), Brody Peart; Ben Wright (sub Jordan Goater 55 mins) , Brett Denham.

Subs not used Marc Vockins, Kieran Maylen

Tadley take Bournemouth Fc (Poppies) at 7.45pm on Tuesday 13 September in the Hampshire Cup.