All 3 Isle of Wight Wessex League sides – Cowes Sports, East Cowes Victoria and Newport – drew this afternoon (Saturday 12th October).
VICTORIANS FIRE BLANKS AT MAGPIES
East Cowes Victoria were held to a goalless draw for a 2nd successive home game.
Before kick off, Lee Bray – the Wessex league result secretary – presented Manager Alex Smith and Captain Liam Newbold with the Wessex League Division 1 Team-of-the-month Award for September.
Vics started at a fast pace and pushed Alresford back for the first 10 minutes. Alresford were unlucky on 16 minutes when a speculative 20-yard strike from Leon Course bounced off of the crossbar with Alex Ram flat footed.
The big talking point of the half was in the 29th minute. A lunging challenge by Alresford’s Mikey Douglas on Harrison Yates was given as a free kick to Vics. Both sides gathered around Yates on the floor, and the referee pulled the 2 captains to one side before brandishing a red card at Aaron Blaxall – the Alresford skipper – for something he said.
Vics pushed hard against their 10-man opponents for the remainder of the half but couldn’t break down their resolute defence.
Half time: East Cowes Victoria 0-0 Alresford Town
Vics came out on the offensive at the start of the 2nd half, with the Magpies’ keeper John Webb having to deal with with some very dangerous crosses.
The 2nd huge talking point in the game came in the 57th minute when Josh Neale caught an Alresford defender’s ankle, leading to Neale being controversially sent off for violent conduct to the consternation of the crowd of 177.
The nearest Vics came to breaking the deadlock came in the 74th minute after a great move between Sam Kirby and Liam Triggs saw the latter’s effort saved by the Magpie’s keeper.
The Victorians pressed hard for the remainder of the game in a 10 versus 10 battle, but goal attempts from Raff Boyd-Kerr and Sam Kirby weren’t sufficiently accurate, and the match ended goalless.
Full time: East Cowes Victoria 0-0 Alresford Town
East Cowes Victoria: Ram, Snow, Yates, Newbold (c), Wheeler, Chapman, Triggs, Boyd-Kerr, J. Neale, Reynolds, C. Neale Subs: Law, Hart, Kirby, Sullivan, Bricknell
East Cowes Vics’ point leaves then 2nd in Wessex Division 1 with 26 points from 11 games, 1 point below Frimley Green but with a game in hand.
The Victorians have a further opportunity to take top spot on Tuesday evening when they face 12th-placed Fleetlands at Beatrice Avenue with kick off at 19:45.
Gallery of East Cowes Victoria v Alresford Town below:
PORT TAKE POINT FROM LEAGUE LEADERS
Newport twice took the lead against Frimley Green but only came away with a point.
Player-manager Joe Butcher gave Port the lead in the 14th minute with his 2nd attempt on goal after the Frimley keeper had blocked his 1st (0-1).
Frimley Green struck back with an equalising goal from captain Nick Thumwood in the 23rd minute (1-1).
Ji Nash restored the Island side’s lead in the 34th after some good play by Joe Butcher and Henry West (1-2).
Thumwood levelled the scores for the 2nd time in the game by bagging his brace 3 minutes from half time (2-2).
Port man-of-the-match Josh Younie was unlucky not to have scored the winning goal after the restart direct from a corner but had his ‘goal’ disallowed by the referee.
Full time: Frimley Green 2-2 Newport IW
Newport IW: Pitman, West, Wright, Thompsett, Watterson, Holbrook, Nash, Oatley, Browne (c), Younie, Butcher Subs: Myram, Goldberg, Grace, Walsh
Port’s point leaves the County Town club 7th in Wessex Division 1 with 18 points from 10 games, 2 places and 3 points below Cove in the 4th playoff place position, but the Island side have 3 games in hand.
After the game, Newport Chairman John Davies commented:
“An excellent away point gained at a ground where few teams will come away with much this season.”
YACHTSMEN GO 3 GAMES UNBEATEN
Cowes Sports took a point against Christchurch at Hurn Bridge in a match in which they twice took the lead.
Today’s game marked a milestone for 2 key Cowes players, with Jez Conway making his 300th appearance for the club and goalkeeper Ed Hatt his 500th.
Scott McFarlane opened the scoring for the away side in the 12th minute by volleying home a Carter-Knight free kick that had been headed away by a defender (0-1)
6 minutes later, Lewis Freak put the home side back on level terms (1-1).
Jez Conway restored the Yachtsmen’s lead through a 42nd-minute free kick, awarded after Bridi had been brought down (1-2).
Cowes were unlucky not to have reached the interval 2 goals to the good when Bridi saw a shot bounce off the left post a minute from half time.
However, the Yachtsmen were unable to return across the Solent with all 3 points as Christchurch equalised in the 57th minute, courtesy of a 25-yard Finley Richardson strike (2-2).
Full time: Christchurch 2-2 Cowes Sports
Cowes Sports: Hatt, Hughes, Mumford, Conway, Oatley (c), Phillips, Cook, Jasckman, McFarlane, Carter-Knight, Bridi Subs: Chase, Marsek, Tout-Walters, Wright, Wolstenholme
The Yachtsmen’s point leaves them 18th in the Wessex Premier with 9 points from 11 games.
After the match, a Cowes Sports spokesperson said:
“Our many chances were not taken today, with a few shots on the edge of the box not connecting, Bridi hitting the post (again), multiple times getting into the box from play on the wing with no end result on the cross, and a goal-line block preventing a winner in the last minute.”
