GRAYS SCORE CONTROVERSIAL WINNER

Nottinghamshire FA Senior Trophy

First Round

QUARRYDALE UNITED FC 1 UNITED GRAYS FC 2

Att: 43

Club Mug £5

This ground is one Ive never been to and one of the closest to my house, so when the draw for the County Trophy was drawn, this came out as tie of the round, as it pitted two teams with 100% league records. 

Quarrydale United ply their trade in the Midlands and Notts Alliance, whilst United Grays are in their debut season in the Notts Senior League having joined from Quarrydale's league.

Matches between the two clubs have been close, so I was expecting a close match and thats what I got. On arrival I was greeted by Julie who runs the Refreshments Room and Bar, I was introduced to her husband Tony who is the Clubs Chair, whilst buying a cuppa, I noticed that they sell Club Mugs at £5, so had to buy one for my collection.

Round to the changing rooms area and was greeted by Dale's Secretary who provided me with both teams line ups.

The tie kicked off and it was United who took a early lead after just 5 minutes, when a cross bar found out CONNOR WARD who rifled the ball home. This seemed to awaken United as they surged forward but good defending by the home defence kept them at bay. Just before half time, the home keeper Liam Aspinell was called in to action on three occasions.

After the half time cuppa, it was back to pitchside and the visitors upped their game and again could well have been on level terms a few times with close efforts. On the hour, things were to become harder as they were reduced to ten players for ten minutes, as a player was sent to the sin bin.

Grays continued to press forward and it seemed that it was only going to be a matter of time before they equalised but could the homesters hang on, the answer was no, as in the 76th minute, the ball was played out to DAVID GRAY on the left wing, who fired home from 35 yards to the delight of his team mates.

As the clock was ticking down and extra time looming, with 86 minutes on the clock, a United player went down in the six yard box after a clash with the home keeper, the home defence cleared the ball out of player for the visiting attacker to receive treatment to his head. When play resumed from the throw in, it reached the feet of JOSH GARDNER who tapped the ball in to a empty net. The home side wasnt happy that the ball wasnt played back to them and it turned out to be the winning goal.

It left the match on a sour note to be honest, as the game had been played in good spirit up to that point, so it was a pity to see two good footballing sides at loggerheads.

191 photos from the match can be seen on this LINK