COLLINS DOUBLE PUTS US THROUGH
DMC Evesham 1 Yeltz 2
16 November 1999
We're on the march with Chambers army! Two goals from Ross Collins and the mighty Yeltz are off on an epic run in the League Cup.
OK I'm just trying to stir up a little excitement here, but it is nice to think we might actually do something in this competition for once. After all, we haven't got that much to look forward to in the league :-( As usual, any match reports are welcome as long as they are genuine!
Saturday brings struggling local rivals Worcester to The Grove - they've only won once against Grantham so far but I'm not going to tempt fate by predicting anything (except in Fantasy Island of course)
Match Report from James Pearson
Same Old Story (or ******* awful to quote John Chambers)
On a cold night at Evesham there was more interest in the passing trains than in a lacklustre Halesowen performance typical of so many against lower division sides. Having said that a win is a win so we live to fight on (and hopefully play some football!) in the next round.
With no Clinton or Evron in the side you had to wonder where the goals would come from and that was pretty much how the first half went. A drab affair with little football, they scored from a good break down the left by their no. 3 who crossed the ball for a simple goal. A hopeful punt into the box saw their keeper challenge Neil Smith (at least I think it was Neil Smith but I may have been mistaken - it must have been a mirage) in the box and concede a penalty. It was not a penalty by any stretch of the imagination but never turn down a bad decision!! Crispy fired it low and to the goalkeepers right but to maintain justice he flung himself down well and saved it.
We looked brighter in the second half but then again we would have struggled not to. Standing behind the dugout gives a whole new impression of management, anyone with any more motivating alternatives to the phrases ******* awful or ******* useless should contact John Chambers urgently. If it had been a fly on the wall BBC documentary then the only clip they could have used was "Payney in the middle NOW" (repeated several hundred times). Bringing on Birch and Collins about 20mins into the half turned the game They linked instantly to test the keeper and within a couple of minutes Collins buried a ball from the left to put us on level terms. While a relief the score still flattered us with Evesham still creating good chances but causing more danger to the cafe queue than Danny with their finishing. With only seconds remaining there was a steady migration to find a hot drink with the dread of extra time seeming a certainty when an aimless ball into the box was somehow forced home by Collins (at the time I couldn't tell who got the last kick but I gather Collins hit it).
Star player: Couldn't be really anyone else but Collins however Ashley Brown made some good runs on the right and could have been a contender with more consistency.
Anyway things will look brighter at the Stourbridge Road End on Saturday when we can all look forward to a well mannered polite game against Worcester - or should we all be putting spread bets on the number of yellow cards now ????