Sholing3-3Shortwood

Scorers :  Dan Mason 8, Barry Mason 26 (pen), Byron Mason 86 / Adam Price 52, Joe White 52, Lewis Sommers 71

Date : Saturday 17th January 2015 - 3:00pm kick off - Evo-Stik League Southern, South & West

Sholing : Lee Webber, TJ Cuthbertson, Kevin Brewster, Peter Castle (Jess Walklin 63), Dan Miller, Jack Smith, Barry Mason, Alex Sawyer, Dan Mason, Byron Mason [c] (Marvin McLean 73), Nick Watts. Unused Subs: Tomas Skaret Halvorsen, Declan McCarthy, Mike Byrne.

Yellow Card :  TJ Cuthbertson 70

Shortwood United: Tom King, Sam Rawlings (Joe White 45), Nick Humphreys, Matt Bennett [c], Jake Lee, Nick Hancock, Marley Thomas, Jake Parrott (Josh Egan 77), Ross Langworthy, Lewis Sommers (Josh Klien-Davis 78), Adam Price.  Unused Subs: James Lawrence Forbes, Alex Sykes.

Yellow Card :  Matt Bennett 25, Alex Sykes 44

Attendance : 113

Man of the Match :  Byron Mason

Referee :  Alex Fisher  Assistants: Wayne Thomas & Derek Pratt

The trials and tribulations of football were on display today as Sholing went from 2-0 up, to 3-2, but managed to grab a point as all 3 Mason’s managed to find the net for the first time together in a game. 4 goals in the second half topped off a highly entertaining game which needed a late Byron Mason header to share the spoils at the Silverlake Arena.

Team News: The Boatmen fielded, argueably, their strongest lineup of the entire season. Alex Saywer returned from holiday, Byron return from a knock. TJ went back to his more familiar right back slot with Kev Brewster switching flanks to the left.  On the bench, there was a welcome return for Marv McLean. Also in the 1st team squad was Tomas Halvorsen.

Sholing got the game underway and straight away Dan Miller was at work, stopping Marley Thomas from running any further than he already had. Lee Webber was then forced into making a fantastic reaction save after Adam Price was found in the middle of the area, thankfully his header was down the middle and Webber didn’t have far to move.

Sholing were applying some good pressure and were awarded with a few corners and one finally delivered. Kevin Brewster whipped in the teasing ball which seemed to be headed on by TJ Cuthbertson, which was tipped onto the crossbar by the keeper before being headed over the line by DAN MASON.

Shortwood's tall number 10 Lewis Sommers showed why he was a threat when a lofted Sam Rawlings ball picked him out, but his header was not directed at all and bounced harmlessly wide. Sholing’s defence was holding firm and Nick Hancock resorted to belting from range which Lee Webber was only too happy to lap up. Shortwood then came on the attack, a series of blocked efforts concluded with Ross Langworthy saw his low drilled effort being stopped a pair of sliding Boatmen, Jack Smith and Pete Castle were ok to put their bodies on the line.

On 23 minutes Sholing had a sure handball penalty appeal turned down before having a stonewall one given. Nick Watts produced some magic with a back heel flick to set Dan Mason off running into the area. Matt Bennett thought he had done enough with his sprawling tackle but the ball got caught underneath him and struck his hand. After a yellow card was handed out BARRY MASON powered the ball down the bottom left to grab his 2nd goal in as many games.

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Dan Miller copped quite an unfortunate injury after standing in the way of an attempted clearance that smacked him between the legs. With Miller still wincing, Sholing were breaking forward at pace and in quick succession, Byron and Barry both had efforts they should have converted, and the pain on their faces showed they should have probably finished their respective chances.

Jack Smith thought he would have a bit of fun, jiggling the ball before launching a volley from 30 yards out that would have worthy of the Puskas award had it gone in. but Shortwood were having their chances too, the pace of Marley Thomas was causing Sholing a few issues and he delivered a ball that it was important for Lee Webber to cut out, because Ross Langworthy was lurking alone in the middle. And a few minutes later Adam Price had a clear view of goal before Barry Mason threw life and limb in front of a goal bound effort.

Just before half time the Shortwood manager was booked for giving just too much of an opinion, and from the corner Barry Mason was unlucky not to find the net, his header was a whisker wide. And that was the end of a well-played and Sholing controlled first half. The three Mason’s were showing some real class and the three of them alone controlled the game at both ends. HT 2-0

Shortwood got the 2nd half underway, and straight away won a free kick on the edge of the Sholing penalty area, which was looped narrowly wide by Jake Parrott. Not long after Marley Thomas missed a glorious opportunity after finding a yard of space inside the area, he turned a fired wide. But a few minutes later his side were back in the game anyway as Adam Price tapped in home from close range to half Sholing’s lead. Then less than 60 seconds later the visitors had turned it around and they were level! Marley Thomas latched onto a lofted ball over the top to sprint down the right, he put in a delicious ball that, a suspiciously offside looking substitute Joe White got on the end of to smash the ball home.

After a breathless few minutes, the game went quiet with both teams aware that either one could win the game. Dave Diaper showed his intent subbing off a tiring Pete Castle for Jess Walklin to pose a more attacking threat. TJ Cuthbertson was booked for a dangerous challenge. And a minute later Shortwood were ahead, Lee Webber fumbled 2 chances to catch the ball and the missed chances were costly as Lewis Sommers slid the ball into the net to complete the turnaround.

Marvin McLean then replaced Barry Mason, returning from injury. Nick Watts Smacked an ambitious effort goal bound from distance, but it sailed wide.

Having just been named man of the match, Byron thought that wasn’t enough. Kevin Brewster looped in a ball over the top from a free-kick, it completely escaped the leaping Dan Miller and looked as though the keeper had it, but BYRON MASON was on hand to nip in front and nod home from point blank range. It completed a full house of scoring Masons in a good day for the family.

Josh Klien Davis came close to winning it in added time, but his curled effort from outside the area sailed wide with Webber nailed to the spot. Sholing also came within inches of finding the winner, Kevin Brewster looped a free-kick from the corner towards the back post was headed by Dan Miller goalwards, the ball took a knock off a defender to turn it away off the line although I am not too sure he knew much about it. The referee blew the final whistle to put an end to a fantastic game. FT 3-3

Report by Ollie Maskell

Photos by Ray Routledge (click an image to enlarge)