NOT GOOD ENOUGH IN THE END
Yeltz 0 Team Bath 1
30 April 2005
In the end even a win wouldn't have made any difference, but it was still a disappointing end to the season when we lost to Team Bath to only end up in 9th place .
I guess the end of season report is something like "shows promise but could do better". We started off the season brilliantly, being top of the table in November and having an excellent FA Cup run. However a bad run in December knocked us out of our stride and from then on we couldn't keep up that early season form and eventually ran out of steam. With a relatively small squad, losing several players with long term injuries didn't help.
So on to next season. I think if we can get Steane, Strachan and Spencer fit and playing again it will make a huge difference to the squad, and with maybe a few additions in the summer we have an excellent chance of promotion next year. I'm certainly looking forward to it already!
As usual the site will still be operating over the summer, but now we have the official club site that will also be a good place to find the latest news. Have a jolly summer, and I'll see you all next year!
Match Report from DJ
Halesowen Town: Taylor; Johnson, Haywood (Cooper 65), Preston, Pope, N. Smith (Skidmore 81), Cowley, Moore, Lamey, Amos (Baker 81), Forsdick. Unused Sub: Gayle
Team Bath: Hines; D. Smith, Townley, Long, Hudson, Ball, Heiniger, Canham (Wojciechowski 73), Kamara-Taylor, Blake (Lewis 77), Warner. Unused Subs: Maye, Jaukovic, Chitty
Referee: P. Caswell (Leicester) Attendance: 547 Booked: None Sponsors' Man of the Match: Simon Forsdick
Halesowen missed out on the play-offs and slipped down to 9th place in the final table after their University-funded visitors completed the double.
It proved to be a disappointing end to a season of early promise and the day started badly after the first-team kit went missing, presumed to be stolen. Prior to the game, captain Steve Pope was named as the Player of the Season ahead of Simon Forsdick and Alex Cowley and the Halesowen Town Supporters Travel Club presented a cheque for £1000 to the club.
Nathan Lamey found himself in space after just 6 minutes for white-shirted Halesowen after being put through by Alex Cowley but could only toe-poke at goalkeeper Ali Hines from five yards out. Team Bath then produced a good move on 20 minutes when David Blake flashed just wide after being set up by Matt Warner and Joe Long.
Jason Moore was caught offside on 21 minutes and in the 25th minute a Cowley cross was headed back across goal but Moore tried to place his header and his effort was cleared off the line. Caleb Kamara-Taylor headed just wide for the visitors after 28 minutes and in the 39th minute Halesowen man-of-the-match Simon Forsdick burst down the left-wing to earn a corner. Lamey then cut in from the right in the 40th minute but Hines produced a fine save to punch clear his 20-yard drive and then repeated the trick from the same player a minute later.
The visitors grabbed the winning goal in first-half injury time when Blake crossed for Matt WARNER to head home.
Halesowen never looked likely to break down well-organised Team Bath in the second half and it was Marc Canham who struck the side-netting from ten yards for the visitors in the 57th minute. A casual back-pass from Karl Johnson then let in Kamara-Taylor but his clever chip rebounded off the Halesowen crossbar with goalkeeper Chris Taylor beaten.
Forsdick won a couple of corners for the increasingly desperate hosts and in the 76th minute Hines turned a 20-yard Lamey drive around the post. But Team Bath remained good value for their victory to claim a creditable mid-table league position as Halesowen's season petered out bereft of ideas.