Saturday 20th September 2008
F.A. vase 2nd qualifying round

CHRISTCHURCH v PETERSFIELD TOWN

Christchurch welcomed Wessex 1 side Petersfield Town to Hurn Bridge for this F.A. vase fixture. Christchurch line up:

1 Stewart Kearn
2 Steve Linpow
3 Michael Green
4 Dan Crutchley (capt)
5 Chris Dillon
6 John Brock
7 Mark Smith
8 James Burden
9 Russell Cooke
10 Mark Burrows
11 Simon Keates

12 Martin Lawrence
14 Paul Rideout
15 Steve Strong
16 Dan Taylor
17 Ben Osborne

Christchurch manager Graham Kemp made one change to the starting line up for the previous game with Simon Keates coming into the side and Dan Taylor dropping to the bench.

The match was played in brilliant sunshine and Christchurch started at a hot pace. Russell Cooke and Marc Burrows were prominent up front for Christchurch as Petersfield found it difficult to get into the game. Christchurch were passing the ball extremely well and it was no surprise when they opened the scoring with just 9 minutes gone. Michael Green advanced down the left and played the ball inside to Russell Cooke who was tackled but the ball ran loose to Simon Keates on the edge of the penalty area. Keates struck a delightful shot with his right foot, which powered into the keepers top left hand corner of the net for the opening goal. Christchurch piled on the pressure and only desperate defending from the Petersfield back line kept the score down. On the half hour a delightful move between Jon Brock, Simon Keates and Steve Linpow finished with Marc Burrows clean through as Petersfield appealed for offside. Burrows perhaps uncharacteristically pulled the ball back across goal but missed the advancing Christchurch players. A lengthy drop kick from Christchurch keeper Stewart Kearnes evaded the Petersfield central defenders and put Burrows again clean through. Burrows shot however was well saved by the keepers legs. Some of the football that Christchurch were playing was from the top drawer and at the end of the first half a superb move involving Jon Brock, Mark Smith, Simon Keates and Russell Cooke saw Brock shooting just wide.

Half time: Christchurch 1 Petersfield Town 0


The second half saw Petersfield Town come more into the game and their midfield in particular started to play with confidence. In fact Petersfield were unlucky not to equalise on a couple of occasions, once when a corner was flicked on and the ball was volleyed high over the bar and once when the post came to Christchurch’s rescue. This scare seemed to wake Christchurch up and a short corner resulted in James Burden crossing for skipper Dan Crutchley to play the ball down to Marc Burrows who saw his low shot parried by the keeper to substitute Ben Osborne who netted his second in two games which wrapped up the game for Christchurch.

Final score: Christchurch 2 Petersfield Town 0

Christchurch Man of the Match sponsored by “Den’s Diner” DAN CRUTCHLEY

The Bridgeman