ASHA SMASH UNITED FOR TEN

Derbyshire FA Junior Cup South

Second Round

SOUTH NORMANTON UNITED FC 1 ASHA FC 10

Att: 4

played at Sutton Lawns 3g

12pm Kick Off

The FA have bought in a ruling regarding County Cup ties across England where if a home side has their tie postponed twice, then they must either find a alternative venue or lost home advantage and switch the tie to their opponents ground, some clubs dont like it but it does save a massive backlog in fixtures and sees games at venues not usually visited.

When I saw this tie had been arranged for a midday kick off, I thought a few groundhoppers would be interested as they could double up with another 3pm kick off in the near by area, but that wasnt the case, indeed at one stage, I thought I was the crowd!!

With both teams having done their teamsheets and handed to young match official referee Kieran Widdowson, the match kicked off with South Normanton United who ply their trade in Division Two of the Midlands Regional Alliance taking on Nottinghamshire Senior League Division Two club Asha FC who are in the football pyramid approx four divisions above.

South Normanton had the first couple of attacks and the Asha keeper was called in to early action twice, but with Asha fielding a couple of players who have played at a higher level, it soon became clear that the experiance was going to count and with 4 minutes on the clock, JAY COOPER opened the scoring.

To United's credit, they tried to fight back but this was leaving gaps at the back and Asha were guilty of missing a few chances on the counter attack, but on 22 minutes, the United central defender was shown his way to the sin bin for dissent and Asha took advantage of the man advantage when on 24 minutes doubling their lead to 2-0 through DAN EVANS.

On 39 minutes, it seemed like game over when DAN EVANS then made it 3-0 and I headed up to the pavillion for a half time cuppa.

On 47 minutes, JOSH ANDREWS made it 4-0 and on 52 minutes JAY COOPER made it 5-0 as Asha looked like they were going to score each time they went forward at this stage of the game.

On 55 minutes, United got a deserved goal, when SAM HORSLEY saw his penalty saved but he was first to react to the keeper push out and smashed the loose ball in to the net.

On 64 minutes, JAY COOPER not only bagged his trick but extended his sides lead to 6-1 and on 77 minutes, not to be outshone DAN EVANS scored his third and his clubs seventh of the afternoon.

With the clock running down and United's legs very weary, Asha made the extra fitness count as JAY COOPER on 86 minutes made it 8-1 and then the same man scored 2 in the final minute to bag himself six for the game and leave Asha scoring double figures.

Must say young referee Kieran Widdowson had a very good match, controlling the play well by letting the game flow and using the advantage good when he could and bringing it back if it didnt come off.

After the match the referee's dad Martin kindly donated £10 to the Charity Blog which is for Nottingham Stroke Club and with the goals scored at this match and my next match at Eastwood takes the running total to a fantastic amount of £559.50p

To view the 89 photos from the match, please click this LINK