South inflict early FA Cup exit
A below par Rams exit the FA Cup at the first hurdle after a bitterly disappointing afternoon at the HWRS.
The FA Cup came and went in the blink of an eye as the Rams were dumped out by South Liverpool at the HWRS on Saturday afternoon.
An entertaining cup tie unfolded at the Riverside stadium in Ramsbottom on Saturday afternoon. Followers of mainstream football might be surprised that the FA Cup is underway before many have taken their summer holidays, but that was the case and in conditions worthy of the beach, the home side faced a team with plenty of history in the form of South Liverpool.
The visitors, playing in red and black. took the game to the home side with a couple of early chances flying over and wide as their hard work and the winning of contested balls pegged the home side back. It was no surprise when they struck as early as the ninth minute. A pass found Neil Weaver in a surprising amount of space in the box and he produced clever footwork to fire high past Trueman for a deserved opener.
Before the crowd had chance to draw breath however the Rams responded by surging forwards. The move led to a free kick, taken by Jack Sowerby, who cutely back rolled the ball backwards to the edge of the box where it found Macauley Wilson in support. Wilson had no hesitation in crashing the ball past Garner for a fine equaliser which brought the short-sleeved crowd to life.
Home supporters may have expected their team to kick on from the leveller, but instead, the usual fluid passing game was ignored in favour of long punts for the head of Gareth Hill. Even when won there was little support and the rudimentary tactic, which continued throughout, had next to no positive impact.
Worse was to follow as blue shirts huffed and puffed and it was no surprise when South re-took the lead just for minutes later. A deep corner from the left was headed goalwards by Mulally and then trundled through a ruck of static players, including Trueman, as if in slow motion to end up in the net. The dire defending from the set piece indicative as where the root of the problem may lie.
Rams still have the capability to string decent moves and Oscar Radcliffe, having recovered from a knock, charged forwards after 32 minutes, to deliver in a well-flighted arcing cross cleverly glanced in at the back post by Gareth Hill and drew the teams level.
Surely a goal of such quality would surely swing the game Rams way after the break?
It was not to be. As the teams swapped ends the visitors seized the initiative and on 61 minutes, struck again. A corner from their right was once again not cleared and recycled by the Liverpudlians. It eventually reached Joseph Clarke, who engaged in a running battle all afternoon, took his chance well, firing it high past Trueman to put South ahead for a third time to the delight of their band of supporters.
The Rams reacted – but hurried long balls led to it being instantly returned as the visitors work coupled with accurate ground passing meant they always posed a threat. On 78 minutes, South fashioned a move down the left which found a large gap in the home defence. Trueman reacted by charging out – but the visitors retained possession, taking it past him before Weaver again produced a fine flighted finish over a clutch of defenders and into the roof of the net for a fourth, to effectively seal the victory.
The visitors saw out the game despite a flurry of home substitutions, and were good value for their win. For the Rams, the FA Cup ends before August is out.
Having shipped four goals on their own turf – it could have been more- it is evident that it is work in progress at the back for the men in blue. It is also strange that despite manager Rob Henry’s advocacy of the passing game, the hit and hope tactics were so prominent on the day.
Despite the sobering defeat the crowd reacted with consolatory applause for their team, but it was more for effort rather than any guile on offer on the day.
Manager Henry was naturally a disappointed man. “A disappointing performance from start to finish”, he bemoaned, “and completely chalk and cheese from Tuesday night’s game against Trafford.
“Frustration, as the pre-match message was to build on the positivity of Tuesday and show the consistency that we need.
“We lacked energy and intensity in everything we did, and we didn’t impose ourselves physically on the game. Structurally we were poor and that resulted in us being open as a team, but we didn’t defend well individually or as a unit. The goals we gave away were so poor and easily avoidable.
“We must improve and improve quickly, getting back to the standards we showed on Tuesday night.”
RAMSBOTTOM UNITED: Trueman, Radcliffe, Cox (Coulton), Collinge, Wilson, Blanchard (Beck), Forbes (Chambers), Sowerby (Beca), Hill, Dudley, McCann Not used: MacBride
GOALS: Wilson (11), Hill (32); Weaver (9,78), Mullally (15), Clarke (61)
ATT: 293
