Bracknell Aces v Caversham United
East Berkshire Football League Division One
Just a short journey today’s match, my first look at the East Berkshire Football League and also a first chance to touch base with Bracknell Aces on their own turf in Great Hollands. The home side were playing their first home game of their debut season and their opponents, the Goats of Caversham United, are themselves playing their inaugural season at this level. Lots of firsts going on here!
After a chat with the few of the Aces hierarchy and a wander around the pitch it was time for the slightly delayed 2pm start to actually kick off.
The game almost started with a bang. After some tentative defending from the home side, Danny Lampo almost made an immediate impact after making himself a shooting opportunity just inside the box in the first minute but his effort went wide.
Aces struck back, a nice move down the right flank ended with a lovely teasing Harvey Redman pass across the face of the goal but it was just too far in front of Bailey Hall in the centre, instead finding Alex Girling beyond the far post but he couldn’t get a shot away.
The hosts came close again minutes later, a free kick into the box was half cleared by the visitors defence and fell to captain Charlie Proudlove whose sweetly hit strike rocketed back off the crossbar and was cleared.
The breakthrough came after a long ball was picked up by Lampo 25 yards out, he shrugged off a challenge before sliding the ball past Jack Matthews in the Aces goal. 0-1
Alex Girling was starting to cause the away defence some problems, first a good turn and shot was saved well down low by George Allen. In the next attack Girling won a corner which was swung in towards the far post, half cleared, and he fired home from the edge of the box. 1-1
Five minutes before the break Caversham won a free kick wide on the right near the corner flag. Bevan van Wyk swept the kick into the near post where it was bundled into the net by Ben Hole. 1-2
The Goats nearly added a third before half time, a long diagonal free kick from Hole was controlled beautifully with a great first touch by Christian Opoku, he cut inside the defender but fired his shot wide of the post.
H-T: Bracknell Aces 1 Caversham United 2
The visitors made a quick start to the second period as well. Bevan Van Wyk sent clear by a nicely weighted ball over the top from Elliott Dobbs, he tried sliding it across Matthews into the far corner but the keeper got down quickly to save.
On their next attack the visitors increased their lead through a smart finish from Connor Sturgess firing low past Matthews after picking up a defensive loose pass. 1-3
Next it all kicked off a little bit. On a quick break it an Aces forward appeared to be pulled down in the box with the linesman, just ten yards away, flagging for the foul but the official who was a good 30 yards away waved away the appeals. This led to some frank comments from the home side and Tommy Rymell was initially sent to the sin bin and then a couple of minutes later he was shown the red card. I spoke to the referee afterwards who explained the red card was for continued foul and abusive language after the initial sin-binning.
Looking to take advantage of the numerical advantage Caversham pushed forward and a nice jinking run from Christian Opoku created an opening but he ran out of space and fired weakly straight at the keeper.
Bracknell fought to get back into the game despite being a man short and pulled one back with Lewis Lancaster running onto a through ball and finishing nicely. 2-3
Their hopes of an equaliser didn’t last long as Lucas Shaffner picked up on a defensive mistake and slotted home to regain the visitors two goal advantage. 2-4
This knocked the stuffing out of the hosts and there was still time for Opoku to add a fifth from close range. 2-5
F-T: Bracknell Aces 2 Caversham United 5
It was an entertaining introduction into East Berks league football which was not without some controversial incidents. A very enjoyable match, two friendly clubs and watching a game full of chances which could have gone either way at various times. The game swung the way of the visitors after the red card but Aces showed good spirit to keep battling on.
Thanks to all and good luck to both sides in their 24/25 campaigns!