Sholing1 1Salisbury

Scorers :  Dan Mason 44   /   Kane O'Keefe 36

Date : Saturday 19th September 2015 - 3:00pm kick off - Sydenhams Wessex Premier League

Sholing : Ryan Gosney, Kev Brewster, Jack Smith, Dean Faithfull, Dan Miller, Jamie Bulpitt, Barry Mason, Alex Sawyer (Lewis Kelly 62), Dan Mason (Marv McLean 72), Byron Mason [c], James Davis (Tobi Adekunle 78).  Subs Not used: Owen Roundell, Dan Dove

Yellow Card :  Dean Faithfull, Jack Smith, Jamie Bulpitt

Salisbury : Gareth Barfoot, George Colson, Callum Hart, Thomas Whelan, Stephen Walker, Calum Brockway, Claudio Herbert (Daniel Demkiv), Kane O'Keefe [c] (Sam Wilson 55), Ashley Jarvis, Brandon Mundy, Daniel Young.  Subs: Sam Roberts, Robbie Matthews, Eddie Perrett

Yellow Card : Stephen Walker, Calum Brockway

Attendance : 417

Man of the Match : Jamie Bulpitt

Referee : Stephen Hawkes  Assistants: Alan Dawkins & Danny Corbin

The top two sides in the Wessex League at kick-off, shared the points in a hard fought encounter in front of a large crowd at the Silverlake.  Both teams will probably be happy with not being beaten, but perhaps might wish they pushed harder for winner. Dan Mason kept up his excellent scoring record, bagging his 13th of the season.

Team News: Jack Smith returned to the line-up at left back as Dave Diaper went for his experience over that of young Owen Roundell.  In Steve Claridge's Salisbury squad, were three ex-Boatmen, Ashley Jarvis, Sam Wilson & Calum Brockway.

The crowd was swelled by a huge travelling support from Wiltshire, with around 250 of the 407 in attendance backing Salisbury.  It felt like a hot summers day as the sun beat down, with not a breath of wind to cool the big crowd.  The game kicked off a few minutes late, for reasons only the referee would know. Sholing had the first chance on 4 minutes when a mix-up between the Salisbury keeper and his defender almost presented the ball to Dan Mason inside the penalty area, but Salisbury had the bodies to clear the danger.  

A few minutes later, James Davis brought down the ball on the edge of the area, but his shot on the turn was always rising and went over.  Ashley Jarvis was reminding Sholing fans of his ability to hold the ball up (and also draw a foul!) and he was brought down with Dean Faithfull getting a hasty booking. He was quickly followed into the book by Jack Smith, who was given a long lecture by the Ref, who then finally decided to yellow card him. Jamie Bulpitt robbed a Salisbury midfielder and bore in on goal, but didn't make a clean connection with his shot and it went wide. 

The game entered a scrappy phase, with freekicks mostly against Sholing as the referee made some decisions that frustrated the home support.  Dan Mason had two efforts on goal in quick succession, one that he met at the far post on his left foot and put over.  The second a shot on the run that was straight at the keeper.   Salisbury's Callum Hart connected cleanly with a 30 yard shot, but it was straight at Ryan Gosney. 

On 36 minutes Salisbury took the lead when a corner wasn't cleared and the ball back in was met by Kane O'Keefe with a crisp header back past the stranded Ryan Gosney.  The visitors could have doubled their lead a minute later, but Gos did excellently to save from close range with his legs.  On the stroke of half time, Sholing drew level.  Barry Mason was released down the right wing and his cross from the byline was palmed out under pressure by the keeper, but it was siezed upon by DAN MASON, who coolly slotted it in from 12 yards.   HT 1-1

The second half was slow to get going as the ball stayed mostly in the midfield area, with strong challenges continuing to be both punished and overlooked.  One such heavy challenge on Jamie Bulpitt looked certain to get a yellow card, but despite the Salisbury No5, Stephen Walker, not being shy in his vocal opinions of the referee & assistants, he somehow escaped a caution.  Kev Brewster's freekick into the area hit James Davis, but was cleared before he could react. 

Steve Claridge was increasingly animated on the touchline, no doubt frustrated at his own side's inability to create much going forward. Dan Mason showed some skill & strength to get away from his marker, but as he cut across the edge of the area, he was crudely taken out by Brockway who was booked.  The subsequent freekick took an absolute age to get organised, with the ref finally deciding to book Walker for more backchat.  Felt like 5 minutes had passed before Brewy was able to take the freekick and it was an anti-climax as he hit it into the wall.  

A succession of subsitutions for both sides, only slowed the game down further, although both sides seemed to be happy to play out the rest of the game to share the points.  Salisbury's strikers were being well marshalled by Dan Miller, Dean Faithfull and Jack Smith.  The latter, produced a couple of timely interceptions.  Meanwhile, Jamie Bulpitt was winning nearly all the 50/50's in midfield and robbed Salisbury players a number of times, but Sholing couldn't turn those attacks into meaningful efforts on goal.  So there was to be no late winner for either side.  FT 1-1

Report & Photos by Keith Legg (click an image to enlarge)

Second Gallery of Photos here