Evesham United 0-3 Sholing
Scorers : Claudio Herbert 22, Dan Mason 25, Stu Green 39
Date: Saturday 19 September 2020 - 3pm - Pitching In Southern League South Division One
Venue: Jubilee Stadium
Evesham United: Lewis Clayton, Jordan Lymn, Adam Mace, Matt Williams, Ryan Paddock, Lorcan Sheehan, Harry Franklin, Jack Horrell (Daniel Tustin 70), Joshua Hunt (Jamie Lucas 65), James Clarke (Ben Hayes 65), Jordan Staten. Unused subs : Charles Johnson, Aaron Basford
Yellow Card :
Sholing: Ryan Gosney, TJ Cuthbertson, Marv McLean, PJ McLean, Dan Miller, Owen Roundell, Claudio Herbert, Byron Mason ©, Dan Mason, Stu Green (Nick Watts 60), Brad Targett. Unused subs : Luke Deacon, Joe Smith, Charlie Wagstaffe & Rafa Ramos
Yellow Card :
Referee: Andrew Ellis Assistants: Lewis Mansfield-King & Michael Wright
Man of the Match: Claudio Herbert
Attendance: 252 (approx 15 Sholing fans)
Boatmen got the league season underway with a very impressive performance & win at Evesham United. All three goals came in a first half where a sharp Sholing looked likely to score with every attack. Claudio Herbert grabbed his first goal for the club, quickly followed by a Dan Mason strike and then soon after, a lovely finish by Stu Green. Second half, Sholing stayed in control with Ryan Gosney pulling off yet another penalty save to ensure a deserved clean sheet.
Team News : Dave Diaper kept the same starting line up as last week at Bemerton. Missing out through injury were Jamie Bulpitt & Alex Sawyer. Meanwhile, Aidan Radford has duel signed with Cowes Sport and scored for them yesterday in their FA Vase win. Evesham United had a new management team from last season and a rebuilt squad, with the Southern League listing the club as one of the favourites for the title in a season preview during the week.
It was Sholing's third visit to the Jubilee Stadium. We were the first team to play here in a competitive game a few years ago. We lost that game and a subsequent one, but we'd take all three points today on a sunny, warm, but windy day. The first exchanges were quite open, but it didn't take long for Sholing to look the more dangerous going forward. Claudio Herbert ran from the edge of our area and deep into the Evesham half before laying the ball off to Green to float a cross to Dan Mason to head downwards and cause confusion between the keeper and his defence, before the ball was hacked clear. Same combination a minute later, as Green set up D-Dan to fire a low shot that Clayton smothered.
The Boatmen front line were not letting the home side settle and Stu Green was next to have a chance when he anticpated the Evesham defender would drop his back-header short, but Greener's lifted effort cleared both keeper and bar. As Sholing lined up for a corner on 15 minutes, Evesham's No 5, Paddock, headbutted Owen Roundell, but the referee appeared not to see it. Evesham had their best chance of the half on 20 minutes when a build up down the left ended with a cross towards the near post being volleyed just wide.
Sholing were rewarded for their attacking intent on 22 minutes. Stu Green pulled out to the right to collect a pass, before cutting in and seeing his shot blocked inside the area, but it fell nicely to CLAUDIO HERBERT to coolly stroke home from 15 yards and get off the mark as a Boatmen. We doubled our lead only 3 minutes later. Once again, the pressure on the Evesham defence paid off with firstly Stu Green winning a tackle to see the ball find DAN MASON who also was too strong for his marker and as it opened up for D-Dan, he finished low past the diving keeper for his 222nd goal for the club.
Boatmen were looking so much sharper in both body & mind than the home team and almost got a third as Dan Mason nipped in between two dallying defenders to get his toe to a dropping ball, but it went narrowly wide. D-Dan had the ball in the net soon after when Dan Miller's towering knock down was prodded in by the striker. However, to the surprise of many, the linesman said it was offside, but a minute later, we did have our third goal. Owen Roundell picked out STU GREEN with a diagonal ball over the defence and as it sat up nicely, Greener lobbed it first time, beautifully over the advancing keeper & into the empty net to give the Boatmen a commanding advantage at half time. HT 0-3
The second half kicked off with Sholing, perhaps, not quite as sharp going forward as they were in the first half, but were still looking in control of the game. Byron Mason & Owen Roundell were bossing the centre of midfield and the back four were able to tidy up what Evesham were able to create in our final third.
Harry Franklin had looked the home team's biggest threat and his mazy run from the left wing ended with the referee awarding a penalty in the 62nd minute. Ryan Gosney hadn't had much to do, but pulled off yet another spot kick save, diving to his right to palm away Hunt's effort, with the follow up by another Evesham player, skied over the bar, to set up Gos' 114th clean sheet for the club.
Brad Targett showed great skill to get past two defenders and from the byline he picked out the arriving Owen Roundell in the box, but his sidefoot effort went agonisingly wide of the upright. Nick Watts had come on for Stu Green and almost grabbed himself a goal when he just got to the ball first before the keeper to poke it past him, but in a race with a defender to knock it over the line, he just lost out as it was cleared.
Dan Mason went looking for another goal and a typical spin and shot saw the keeper make a decent stop at the foot of his post. D-Dan can count himself unlucky not to have won a penalty, when he muscled into the area and appeared to be brought down, but the referee said no. The ref also did nothing after PJ made a clearance and in the process was clattered by a high challenge that saw the big man need treatment. The final whistle saw the 3 points brought back on the long journey home and a very impressive all round display from the Boatmen. FT 0-3
Dave Diaper said after the match : Great 3-0 win on the road today at Evesham United. Always a tricky place to go to and not many teams will come away with 3 Points and a clean sheet. Well done lads. Thanks to all at Evesham for providing take away food for our players, that showed a touch of class. Thanks also to those fans & support staff for making the long trip north.
Next Game : Fairford Town v Sholing - FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round - Tuesday 22 Sept 7:45pm
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