16th October 2021
Watton United vs Brandon Town @ Watton Sports Centre - Watton
Anglian Combination Division One (Step 8)
14:00 KO
Free entry
Attendance - approx. 60
Half-time score: Watton United 0-1 Brandon Town
Goals:
Brandon Town: Bruce - 23'
Brandon Town: Slater - 67'
Brandon Town: Hunter - 82'
Watton United: Giles - 85'
Watton United: Costache - 90'
Watton United: Rose - 95'
Final Score: Watton United 3-3 Brandon Town
I was committed to attend a wedding party at 7pm up in Rutland, meaning the only match I could reasonably make was the 2pm game at Watton United. I don't know why kick-off was 30mins earlier than the usual 14:30 kick-offs in this league, but I won't complain because if it wasn't for this I wouldn't have seen any football at all! I have wanted to cover another Brandon Town game for a while, and visiting Watton United has also been on my radar, so it was great to get over to this match. Brandon Town's form has been stuttering of late, and Watton are having a poor season sitting rock bottom of the league, so today was a great opportunity for Brandon to turn around their recent form.
I must say that I was really impressed with the set-up at Watton United, it ranks amongst the best I have seen in the Anglian Combination, the pitch had two reasonably large shelters, a buzzing club house and floodlights each corner of the pitch. Seeing this, I would expect them to be one of the better teams in the division, and I have no idea why they are struggling as I am not familiar with the club.
I was also pleasantly surprised to see a match-day programme, another Barnes Print special, and a rarity at this level.
After the wedding party, we went to stay with family in Lincoln, so my time has been limited, so instead of a detailed match report, I can only offer a play-by-play summary of the key events and when they happened, which is a shame as this was a memorable game! Full match reports should hopefully return on Tuesday for Thetford's away game at Mulbarton Wanderers.
KEY GAME EVENTS
3' - Good chance for Watton United. No. 6 flicks ball on to No. 12. fires off a shot across goal, looked in, hit inside of post and out. Very unlucky.
8' - Chance for Brandon Town. Corbyn corner headed wide by King.
10' - Chance for Watton United. Scuffed clearance from corner nearly went in, good reactions from keeper Escritt to keep it out.
12' - Chance for Brandon Town. Bruce stole possession deep in Watton half, fed Corbyn, whose shot at near post was saved.
16' - Excellent chance for Brandon Town. Poor clearance fell to Corbyn, goal was open but effort was blasted over.
18' - Chance for Brandon Town. Billmen to Bruce, good turn and shot pushed out for a corner.
23' - GOAL for Brandon Town. King put in Bruce, ran through on goal and slotted in at the far post. Watton Town 0-1 Brandon Town.
34' - Chance for Brandon Town. Low free kick from Buckmaster awkwardly bobbled through on goal but was held by the keeper.
36' - Good chance for Brandon Town. Poor clearance fell to Slater, was through on goal but effort was dragged wide of the far post, big miss.
38' - Chance for Watton United. No. 7 to Costache, cut in, unleashed shot but was well blocked.
42' - Chance for Watton United. No. 12 plays in Giles, good strike but Escritt got down well to save.
HALF-TIME
53' - Goal disallowed for Brandon Town. Some confusion at the post between Slater and Watton keeper, was tapped in, but was correctly ruled out as the ball had already gone out.
64' - Chance for Brandon Town. Hunter played in Martin, shot went over.
66' - Good chance for Brandon Town. Slater won the ball on the right wing, put in Corbyn but keeper made himself large and saved the strike.
67' - GOAL for Brandon Town. Slide-rule through ball from Buckmaster plays Slater through 1-on-1, calmly slots home. Watton United 0-2 Brandon Town.
70' - Good chance for Brandon Town. Taylor drove ball across box, just needed a faint touch but missed everyone.
78' - Good chance for Brandon Town. Bruce picked up ball deep in own half and ran all the way through on goal, under some pressure from a defender, fired his left footed shot narrowly wide of the near post - great pace and skill, was unlucky not to score.
79' - Chance for Brandon Town. Long range effort from Buckmaster saved, nearly went under the keeper.
80' - Excellent chance for Brandon Town. Slater was through on goal and was brought down before he could shoot. There was certainly a lot of contact and looked a penalty to me but was not given.
82' - GOAL for Brandon Town. Slater runs down right wing with the ball, cuts it across the box and Hunter buries it. Watton United 0-3 Brandon Town.
85' - GOAL for Watton United. No. 6 powers forward with the ball, passes to No. 14 down the left wing, who cuts the ball back to Giles and his close range strikes smashes into the underside of crossbar and in. Watton United 1-3 Brandon Town
89' - Good chance for Brandon Town. Goal mouth scramble, somehow ball does not go in.
90' - GOAL for Watton United. Excellent strike from Costache powered into the top right corner after battling hard to win the ball. Watton United 2-3 Brandon Town.
95' - GOAL for Watton United. Long free kick fired in, bounced around box, Escritt came out to collect, was beaten by Watton player who headed the ball back across goal and Rose nodded into the open goal. Amazing comeback! Watton United 3-3 Brandon Town.
What a come back from Watton United, the points looked sealed for Brandon Town, they had cruised the 2nd half and had a 3 goal lead, and had they been more clinical in front of goal, it could have been more. Watton's first goal came out of nowhere, after some complacent defending, and after this the energy and intensity of the Watton play went up a notch and climaxed in a wonderful equaliser 5 minutes into injury time, Brandon looked stunned and Watton looked like they wanted it more. Brandon Town will look back on a huge missed opportunity to start climbing up the table and they will certainly consider that 2 points lost, and against a team sitting at the bottom of the table. Great result for Watton however, and I hope they use this to press-on and get some more results to move off the bottom of the table, their facilities certainly deserve that. I will definitely come back one day, was a great place to watch an afternoon of football.
Line-ups (will update as soon as official line-ups released):
WATTON UNITED (NOT IN NUMBER ORDER): Michael Callaghan, Alex Costache, Sam Fincham, Brendan Foley, Matthew Giles, Cosmin Ionita, Thomas Rayner, Jay Rose, Daniel Velea, Vlad Toscuta, Matthew Webster. SUBS: Fera Alin, Tom Borgognoni, Gavin Norman.
BRANDON TOWN: Jamie Escritt, Charlie Power, Harry Taylor, Luke King, Ryan Billmen (C), Harvey McGeeney, Kieran Bruce, Michael Corbyn, Jack Slater, Josh Green, James Buckmaster. SUBS: Robbie Hunter, Will Martin, Zak Grimwood.
Σχόλια