Longley Park College 1-1 Shipley College
A 1-1 draw filled with controversy from the very moment the referee’s whistle blew was a game dominated with bad calls, scuffles & plenty of missed chances.
The game began with Shipley College dominating the opening twenty minutes but the side could barely muster any chances with Longley Park pushing their luck defensively throughout the Shipley dominance. Michael Dalton & Glenn Clements took turns trying to pressure the home side’s left back who made Rooney look like Ronaldo with a shambles of a display.
The visitors couldn’t muster any real chances together & could have had far more corners than they had been given if the lineswoman had spent more time watching the game rather than chatting up the referee. Without coming across as a junior version of Andy Gray & Richard Keys, her first half display can only be described as somewhat inept & the referee cracked under the pressure she had been put under & removed her for the second half.
Back to the game however, following the first of many saves what would put Casillas to shame by Jason Greenwood the first scuffle of the game ensued.
Following an awful two footed challenge by the hosts player on Matty Schofield which the referee had let go, Matty proceeded to get his own back & won the cleanly ball in a 50:50 challenge which seemed to enrage the hosts as they all rushed in but the team showed there unity as Glenn Clements came charging across to defend his friend but this wasn’t enough as Matty & the opposition player were both ordered off the field by the shambles of a referee.
The referee played to the home dugout’s calls throughout, with the linesman on the far side Andrew Hamilton the only one of the official’s to turn out not only impartial but also the only official with a grasp on what he was actually doing.
The game continued at a scrappy pace on possibly the worst 3G pitch ever seen in the beautiful game but Shipley allowed the hosts to take control & were nearly punished. The hosts played a corner into the box but some shambolic defending allowed them to go three on one against Jason Greenwood but as the ball fell to their striker her made the wrong call & instead of tapping home itself played it to his centre back to tap home but unfortunately for Longley Park he was offside.
Shipley were quick on the attack with Michael Dalton stretching full pelt in an attempt to score but collided with the hosts goalkeeper, who left him battered & bruised but unable to continue for the remainder of the first half & he was subbed off.
The half time break brought a quick rest bite for both sides & also gave both sides to have a moan at the referee who had failed to keep control of the affair & would get no better.
Shipley unlike the first half were slower out of the blocks than their hosts in the second & looked unable to keep up with the pace as the hosts cranked up the pressure. A rare early second half attack for Shipley saw Shabul Ali turn into what can only be described as an Asian Lionel Messi as he turned the Longley Park defence inside out leaving one or two looking like bigger mugs than before.
Down the other end of the field, Longley Park won a corner. The corner was poorly put into the box but poorly for the Shipley defence was poorly cleared by Ryan Richardson who had the ball at his feet & what seemed an uninspired bobbling shot beat Jason Greenwood who was down injured but found its way in as Mohamed Islam made a poor error in kicking nothing but air & was left watching the ball hit the back of the net to give the hosts the lead.
Shipley dug there claws in following the goal & went looking for the equaliser with substitute CJ in inspired form along with Glenn Clements but in the midst of all this we had a moment only Rooney could provide the team with as instead of a straight forward through the back challenge decided to go head first through the opposition left backs backside.
The referee decided to take centre stage once again with the decision to send Shabul Ali off for dissent for contesting yet another wrong decision & then threatened to do the same with no less than two of the Shipley side for contesting the same decision.
The heated confrontations continued though as Hameed face to face with his opposite number following a war of words in the box with the cameraman extraordinaire here having to persuade two of the team to not going rushing in as they were under warnings from the referee.
Shipley then following some more epic goalkeeping from Jason Greenwood between the sticks including a triple save within the six yard box, headed down the wing to win a vital set piece late on in the game. The set piece started a goalmouth scramble in which Michael Dalton smashed the post before the ball fell to the feet of James Atkinson who calmly slotted home to bring the sides level & snatch Shipley a point which they felt was more two points thrown away than one point gained.
Shipley then had a fantastic chance to win the game but the Longley Park goalkeeper decided to match Jason Greenwood’s efforts with a worldy of his own as he tipped Matty Schofield’s Beckham-esque free kick wide before Shipley wasted the corner & the referee brought a game in which he was the main focus of attention to an end.
Shipley College XI: Greenwood, Islam, Lewis, Mahmood (c), Ali, Dalton, Slater, Shaheen, Schofield, Clements, Atkinson
Subs: Harron, Hameed, Richardson, CJ, Rooney
A 1-1 draw filled with controversy from the very moment the referee’s whistle blew was a game dominated with bad calls, scuffles & plenty of missed chances.
The game began with Shipley College dominating the opening twenty minutes but the side could barely muster any chances with Longley Park pushing their luck defensively throughout the Shipley dominance. Michael Dalton & Glenn Clements took turns trying to pressure the home side’s left back who made Rooney look like Ronaldo with a shambles of a display.
The visitors couldn’t muster any real chances together & could have had far more corners than they had been given if the lineswoman had spent more time watching the game rather than chatting up the referee. Without coming across as a junior version of Andy Gray & Richard Keys, her first half display can only be described as somewhat inept & the referee cracked under the pressure she had been put under & removed her for the second half.
Back to the game however, following the first of many saves what would put Casillas to shame by Jason Greenwood the first scuffle of the game ensued.
Following an awful two footed challenge by the hosts player on Matty Schofield which the referee had let go, Matty proceeded to get his own back & won the cleanly ball in a 50:50 challenge which seemed to enrage the hosts as they all rushed in but the team showed there unity as Glenn Clements came charging across to defend his friend but this wasn’t enough as Matty & the opposition player were both ordered off the field by the shambles of a referee.
The referee played to the home dugout’s calls throughout, with the linesman on the far side Andrew Hamilton the only one of the official’s to turn out not only impartial but also the only official with a grasp on what he was actually doing.
The game continued at a scrappy pace on possibly the worst 3G pitch ever seen in the beautiful game but Shipley allowed the hosts to take control & were nearly punished. The hosts played a corner into the box but some shambolic defending allowed them to go three on one against Jason Greenwood but as the ball fell to their striker her made the wrong call & instead of tapping home itself played it to his centre back to tap home but unfortunately for Longley Park he was offside.
Shipley were quick on the attack with Michael Dalton stretching full pelt in an attempt to score but collided with the hosts goalkeeper, who left him battered & bruised but unable to continue for the remainder of the first half & he was subbed off.
The half time break brought a quick rest bite for both sides & also gave both sides to have a moan at the referee who had failed to keep control of the affair & would get no better.
Shipley unlike the first half were slower out of the blocks than their hosts in the second & looked unable to keep up with the pace as the hosts cranked up the pressure. A rare early second half attack for Shipley saw Shabul Ali turn into what can only be described as an Asian Lionel Messi as he turned the Longley Park defence inside out leaving one or two looking like bigger mugs than before.
Down the other end of the field, Longley Park won a corner. The corner was poorly put into the box but poorly for the Shipley defence was poorly cleared by Ryan Richardson who had the ball at his feet & what seemed an uninspired bobbling shot beat Jason Greenwood who was down injured but found its way in as Mohamed Islam made a poor error in kicking nothing but air & was left watching the ball hit the back of the net to give the hosts the lead.
Shipley dug there claws in following the goal & went looking for the equaliser with substitute CJ in inspired form along with Glenn Clements but in the midst of all this we had a moment only Rooney could provide the team with as instead of a straight forward through the back challenge decided to go head first through the opposition left backs backside.
The referee decided to take centre stage once again with the decision to send Shabul Ali off for dissent for contesting yet another wrong decision & then threatened to do the same with no less than two of the Shipley side for contesting the same decision.
The heated confrontations continued though as Hameed face to face with his opposite number following a war of words in the box with the cameraman extraordinaire here having to persuade two of the team to not going rushing in as they were under warnings from the referee.
Shipley then following some more epic goalkeeping from Jason Greenwood between the sticks including a triple save within the six yard box, headed down the wing to win a vital set piece late on in the game. The set piece started a goalmouth scramble in which Michael Dalton smashed the post before the ball fell to the feet of James Atkinson who calmly slotted home to bring the sides level & snatch Shipley a point which they felt was more two points thrown away than one point gained.
Shipley then had a fantastic chance to win the game but the Longley Park goalkeeper decided to match Jason Greenwood’s efforts with a worldy of his own as he tipped Matty Schofield’s Beckham-esque free kick wide before Shipley wasted the corner & the referee brought a game in which he was the main focus of attention to an end.
Shipley College XI: Greenwood, Islam, Lewis, Mahmood (c), Ali, Dalton, Slater, Shaheen, Schofield, Clements, Atkinson
Subs: Harron, Hameed, Richardson, CJ, Rooney