Sporting suffered a 3-1 defeat at home to an impressive Littleton side.
The game started off slow with neither team managing to get a foot-hold on the proceedings. But it was Sporting who crafted the opening chance when Elliot Nash pounced on a defensive mistake, shimming past two defenders in the box, though Littleton keeper Jack Dell smothered the resulting shot.
Nash was involved again at the other end just five minutes later when his strong sliding tackle on the edge of the home box was deemed unlawful by referee Andrew Hall. The resulting free-kick was saved easily by Tom Savage in the Sporting goal, with just over fifteen minutes played.
Big tackles were going in all over the pitch and Hall, in a particularly stern mood, was letting nothing get passed him. In fact, he came to Sporting's rescue when he inadvertently got in the way of a Littleton shot, just outside the box.
As the half progressed Littleton began to show their class, fashioning some good moves and catching the home side on the break on more than one occasion. However, the Sporting defence were holding their own, putting in some good last ditch tackles. Before thirty-minutes was on the clock defender Nick Harris had sent out the first of three balls that would clear the Victoria Ground by different players during the match. His defensive header sailed high over the south stand to the cheer of the fans.
Despite the visitor's pressure, Sporting were still able to carve out some nice chances when getting forward. Midfielder James Turk fired a powerful header over the bar before blasting wide from a good cross just minutes later.
With half-time fast approaching, Harris fired a low driven shot toward the bottom right corner, sending the Littleton 'keeper scrambling but Nash couldn't finish the rebound. The away team then seemed to have found the opening goal when a breakaway resulted in a neat cut across the box, but Aaron Roberts put in a fine defensive tackle to keep the scores level.
But Sporting couldn't hold out for long, on thirty-five minutes the impressive Joe Lolley fired home beyond Savage to put Littleton 1-0 up.
Going behind lighted a spark under the Rouslers who began pushing forward and had one of their most assured spells in the game, though they were unable to convert. With still a few minutes of the half to play a second ball was cannoned out of the west stand and into the car park and with the third ball of the afternoon, Littleton's Antonio Vernaschi rifled a great shot into the top corner.
At 2-0 down, Keith Draper summed up Sporting's first half luck when he blasted an attempted halfway line clearance onto his own chin.
The second half saw the introduction of attacker Jon Rogers, who came on for defender Jamie Parker, as Sporting looked to get back into the game. And it proved a good call by the Sporting coaches as the wily forward put a well-placed shot beyond the reach of 'keeper Dell on forty-nine minutes to make the score 2-1.
Rogers proved to be a real bright spark for Sporting, getting forward and linking up well with Nash on a number of occasions. But Littleton weren't finished yet and they continued to catch the Rouslers on the break. Savage spilled a powerful shot but his defenders managed to clear the ball from danger.
As the gamed encroached the hour mark, Rogers just missed out on getting on the end of a high ball lobbed into the box and was involved again shortly after when he linked up with Nash and Roberts, but the latter put the ball wide.
Chris Conway came on for striker Luke Dugmore just in time to see Littleton hit the post with a low driven shot, before target man Chris Morrison was introduced for Andy Nicol and Rogers took a high boot in the face.
But Rogers wasn't finished yet, dusting himself down and showing a good turn of pace to pull clear of the away defence, but failed to convert the one-on-one chance.
Morrison and Harris would both drive forward with separate solo efforts in an attempt to find an equaliser, but it was Littleton who successfully struck again when Lolley beat two defenders to the ball, rounded the 'keeper and put the ball into the net from a tight angle with two minutes of normal time left.
Harris, who'd put in a battling performance, was announced on the tannoy as Sporting Man of the Match and Rogers was looked to be felled in the box at the death, though no penalty was awarded.
Sporting: Tom Savage, Aaron Roberts, Jamie Parker (Jon Rogers, 45), Matt Ross, Nick Martin, Nick Harris, Elliot Nash, James Turk, Andy Nicol (Chris Morrison, 71), Luke Dugmore (Chris Conway, 56), Keith Draper
Subs not used: Jack Lodge, Adam Humphries
Littleton: Jack Dell, Matt Mitchell, Kevin Ingram, Kieran Cross, Tim Beattie, Joe Walsh (Connor Trotman, 90), Callum Clarke (Tom Allard, 83) Martin Slevin, Antonio Vernaschi, Joe Lolley, Scott Walsh (Dan Trotman, 70)
Subs not used: Cieran Gilbert, Steven Edghill |