ST MARY'S HOSPICE MIDLAND COMBINATION PREMIER DIVISION
TUESDAY 22ND OCTOBER 2013
BROMSGROVE SPORTING 0 LITTLETON 2
I was looking forward to a footballing feast tonight: my favourite chair, the heating on, a few bottles of beer, Arsenal v Borussia Dortmund on TV. Then I remembered I had offered to do the match report and headed out in a monsoon to a soggy Victoria Ground. Littleton had at least sufficient sense of occasion to play in Borussia Dortmund colours but this wasn't a feast, more a cheese and onion cob of a match, tasty enough in parts, but ultimately unsatisfying and not set to linger long in the memory.
In fairness both teams tried. The problem was they largely cancelled each other out, particularly in the first half. Littleton played with five in midfield and prevented Sporting building through the congested central areas. They were, however unable to provide much support to lone striker Stuart Hall who spent the half in the pockets of the Sporting defenders. They had a few decent moves and a couple of shots but Jake Bedford was not required to make more than routine saves. At the other hand Sporting had a few driven crosses from wide positions that the goal keeper struggled to deal with in the wet conditions, and a handful shots from distance that went high or wide, sometimes both. It wasn't a great spectacle and I hoped for a better second half.
In fact the second half was better; the problem was that the improvement was mainly due to Littleton. After Bellingham had a shot well saved at the start of the second half, the visitors began to get the upper hand. In particular they were getting forward much quicker in support of Hall and consequently looking more dangerous. After an hour they broke quickly from a Sporting corner and ex-Rousler Hall opened the scoring with a tap in from Clarke's low centre. Five minutes later it was two. This time Hall scored from close range after a corner had been headed down. This was poor defending as Bedford was quick to point out to his team mates. It should have been three soon after as Hall squared the ball to Baird who sliced the ball wide from eight yards.
The rest of the game saw Littleton comfortably in control and Bedford made good saves from both Clarke and Hall to keep the score down. 2-0 it finished and that is the only consolation. If Littleton had taken their chances this would have been a heavy defeat. That's five defeats in thirteen games and promotion is starting to look, shall we say, improbable. That four of the defeats have been at the Victoria Ground is particularly disappointing. As for Littleton, maybe the spirit of Jurgen Klopp was with them after all?, |