A fine afternoon of tense footy… all in glorious spring sunshine. Image courtesy David Evans.
Well, The Wood lads did well yesterday, and held the posh chaps from Geurnsey to a 0-0 draw after 120 minutes of what was, by all accounts, tense, entertaining football. Our roving sports correspondent, young David Evans, had this to say:
Thats your lot!
The Wood played well and both sides struggled against the tough pitch conditions… a kind of aerial combat ensued. The Wood came so close so many times to scoring. The Channel Islanders only came as close once or twice but the crossbar was made out of Walsall Wood wood!
Extra time saw both teams more determined, and a faster, more flowing part of the match…
There was a crowd of probably 1,200, mostly sober, but more green than red scarves. Expect most locals like myself were there for the occasion rather than the quality of football.
The Wood played on their home pitch so were used to the unique conditions which affected passes and tackles.
Best shot? Wood player shot and hit the ref who had just blown for something trivial… Ref was so impressed by the shot he took the players phone number which he noted on his yellow card. Oops.
The resulting bruise will be a lasting memento of the triviality of the blow!
More conventional (cough) coverage can be found linked on the wonderful YamYam sport section. There are reports by the BBC and Pitch Side Stories. The replay will take place at Guernsey’s home ground, Footes Lane, next Saturday.
The Brownhills Blog wishes the lads well. It was clearly a tight game and I think Guernsey had more of a battle then they imagined.
Wonderful stuff.
One of several close shaves. Image courtesy David Evans.