Attendance – 48
Cowes Sports travelled to Salisbury looking for revenge for the F A Cup defeat they had suffered at the hands of Bemerton Heath Harlequins back in August. The home side started the match bottom of the table but with a few games in hand.
Cowes were without Ashley Brett and Ed Hatt, both unavailable, whilst a quad injury will keep captain John McKie out probably until Christmas. Charlie Allen, Connor Furmidge and Ben Gearing came into the starting line up whilst Aarun Ince, Aiden White and Aedan Coode were on the bench.
Referee Nathan Cook showed the way he was going to spoil the game as early as the second minute when a clearance from defence sent James Wykes through on goal, but the Official blew up for a free kick in the Cowes box much to the annoyance of the visitors. Chance missed!! Connor Furmidge then fed Callum Chase who in turn played in James Wykes, one on one with the home keeper, who done well to stop the Cowes striker. Chance missed!! Bemerton finally had an attack of note which led to Charles Young firing straight at Ben Gearing in the Cowes goal. Blow for the Islanders as James Wykes pulled up in the 14th minute with a groin strain that forced him off to be replaced by Aarun Ince. in the 19th minute a Gareth Bricknell inswinging corner nearly fooled the home defence before Matthew Fredericks eventually gathered low at his near post. Aarun Ince then had a shot across the face of goal that went just wide of target before another Gareth Bricknell corner caused confusion, coming off a Heath defender towards goal only to be cleared off the goal line. Dom Sexton became the first Yachtsmen to be booked for a foul near the touch line. Bemerton took the lead in the 35th minute when a free kick into the Cowes box found JORDAN MATTHEWS who turned to fire home from close range. Cowes nearly had an equaliser on the stroke of half time when a defensive header was intercepted by Jez Conway but he could only fire straight at their keeper as the home side went in one ahead at the break.
Cowes started the second half on the attack, a Charlie Allen free kick picked out Connor Furmidge whose shot was saved by the home keeper. Another chance missed. Conor White then picked up a yellow card. JEZ CONWAY levelled the scores in the 64th minute when his persistence paid off, beating a defender then the keeper at second attempt. Then the in the 70th minute, the most controversial incident of the game, Gareth Bricknell played Jez Conway in who was cynically brought down on the edge/inside the area by last man, left back Graham Williams. After consulting with his Assistant he only booked the defender and awarded a free kick inches outside of the box. By all accounts the foul was inside of the box and the defender should have seen red!!!!! Jez Conway then fired across the face of goal which took a deflection for a corner before in the 74th minute a corner from the right picked out home skipper SCOTT HASSELL who rose highest to head the winner into the left corner of the Cowes net. The home side saw out the final twelve minutes of the game to earn the three points that takes them off the bottom of the table and leaves the Yachtsmen down in 16th place.
Another game that the Island side should really have won but due to the lack of quality in the final third have lost and if they are not careful they will find themselves in a relegation battle again. Lets hope that is not the case.
Referee:- NATHAN COOK Assistants – Andrew Walker + Ryan Thomas
Team:-
Ben Gearing, Conor White, Dominic Sexton, Aidan Bryan, Charlie Allen, Jack Broomfield, Callum Chase, Gareth Bricknell (c), Jez Conway, Connor Furmidge, James Wykes
Used Subs – Aarun Ince(James Wykes) 15
Unused Subs; Aiden White, Aedan Coode + Dave Thurman g/k