Alvechurch COE
Matches
Wed 09 Oct 2024
Alvechurch F.C.
Alvechurch COE
2
2
Lichfield City
CHURCH END THE LEADERS' 100% START...

CHURCH END THE LEADERS' 100% START...

Paul Hasker9 Oct - 19:43
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Alvechurch COE DL dig deep to claim a point against the runaway league leaders.

Coming into the game having dropped their first points of the season away at Kettering Town last week, the home team knew they would need to bring their 'A-Game' if they were take anything from Lichfield City. The visitors arrived into this one on the back of four wins from four games with a +29 goal difference at this stage. Top of the league with 12 points. Five ahead of Church.

HOW IT UNFOLDED...
The two heavyweights collided on a breezy and bitter day at The Hayes.

It would be the visitors to get the top-of-the-table clash underway. But it would be the hosts, who started the quicker of the two sides.

10 minutes into the encounter and Church had already seen three chances bypass them. William Hicks had a golden chance to break the deadlock on seven minutes. A defence-splitting pass by Dieter Schwarm was executed brilliantly freeing Hicks up. The latter took the strike on early, but as he attempted to lift it over the goalkeeper, it landed on the wrong side of the woodwork and out for a goal-kick.

Two minutes later and it would be Hicks to deliver an inch-perfect cross to the back post. With the rich reign of form that Jaelon West was in, you could have expected him to smash home but his out-stretched leg couldn't quite divert the ball into the net as it flashed beyond him. The ball did ricochet out for a corner though.

From the resulting corner, the away side failed to clear and it was West again who came flying in but his effort was too high and it flew over the top of the crossbar. Tension rising.

If you don't take your chances, sometimes in football, it has a way of making you pay. Precisely that in this case.

With the game twelve minutes old, the away team managed to find the opener. A mistake from the Church goalkeeper saw the striker clip the effort goal-wards from 25 yards out and it flew into the back of the net to sucker-punch the hosts.

However, they now came out with an extra spring in their step aiming for the leveller. After a scrappy period of play from both sides, Alvechurch did manage to haul themselves level. Huge testament of character to react to their setback eight minutes before. Jaelon West was set through on goal. He shook off the two challenges before taking aim and finding the far corner. Church 1, Lichfield 1.

Deservedly on terms.

On 28 minutes, the Lichfield City goalkeeper was called into action. Yasen Kawan intercepted before going on a dazzling solo run. His run led him into the final third of the away side's territory. He took one glance up and hit an absolute bullet that was heading into the bottom left-hand corner but the goalkeeper shuffled his feet quickly and dived to his right to claw the effort out of the goal.

Church' dominance on proceedings wasn't having the desired effect yet. Another huge opportunity to go in-front evaded them. West' thunderous strike on the edge of the area had all types of movement on it forcing the goalkeeper to parry the shot away. But his parry fell kindly into the path of Hicks, who took the shot on first-time, but his effort went the wrong side of the mark to send us into the interval all square and all to play for in that second-half.

HT: ALVECHURCH 1-1 LICHFIELD CITY

Kicking themselves at the break, I'm sure. But even then, I believe Tyrone Barnett and Krystian Pearce would have been proud of their side for their first-half efforts against the well-drilled league leaders. They needed to go again and believe that it would be their day to crush the away side's unbeaten start to the campaign. Not only that but to more importantly close the gap at the top of the tree.

Was it going to be one of those days where the ball just didn't want to go in for Church though?

Three minutes after the restart, another glorious chance squandered by the hosts. A beautiful delivery into the area was met by David Kayigwa, who saw his free header stopped on the line by the opponent's goalkeeper.

As we said in the first-half, if you don't take chances, football has a way of making you suffer. One chance at one end. A goal at the other.

Lichfield found a patch of resilience as they stormed their way back into the lead. Seemingly, it was an easy catch for the stand-in goalkeeper but he lost control of the slippery ball on a wet surface and it allowed Henry Poole to ghost in. Poole tapped home into an empty net. Gut-wrenching for the home side...

Could Church find the spirit and determination from somewhere to go again?

After the second goal, the travelling team found grew in confidence and went in search of a third goal at The Hayes. They nearly found it, too. On 64 minutes, a corner was delivered into the penalty area and the ball dropped invitingly for the awaiting winger. He swiped at the effort and it was trickling towards the goal-net. Luckily, a Church player managed to recover to clear it off the line before hooking it to safety and relieving the pressure.

The time eating away at Church. A first loss of the season looming large over the horizon if they couldn't find the equaliser.

WRITE THE CHURCH OFF AT YOUR PERIL!

With 13 minutes left on the clock, The Church were awarded a penalty! A free-kick out wide was swung in and Kayigwa got the effort off. The ball was handled inside the box forcing the referee to point to the spot. No hesitation either. Clear as day.

Pressure? What pressure? Pressure is for tyres...

West took control of the situation. Nerves of steel. His run-up was different. But his finish was brilliant as ever as he rammed home the penalty into the side-netting and managed to bring Church level for a second time in the contest to set off wild celebrations. Could they go on to find a winner now?!

The equaliser seemed to set off an electric and frantic final ten minutes. Eight minutes remaining, HOW HAVE CHURCH NOT FOUND A THIRD GOAL!!! West latched onto the long ball over the top, he beat the goalkeeper to the ball, rounding him and his effort came crashing off the underside of the bar after bobbling up on the surface. The rebound fell the way of Kawan, who took the shot on. The shot was blocked. The ball found it's way back to West, who hit another effort, but saw the ball stopped on the line by the defender before eventually clearing to safety. MENTAL. STUFF.

Two minutes later, and the chances coming quicker than normal. Kayigwa controlled the ball perfectly before taking the strike on from inside the area and forced the opposition goalkeeper into another smart save. But as for the two sides, they both take a share of the points which keeps both sides unbeaten so early on in the season.

FT: ALVECHURCH 2-2 LICHFIELD CITY

We expected an entertaining and enthralling contest as the two of the top three sides met on matchday five of the season. Church aimed to close the gap. But in football, there is a saying... "If you can't win it, it's vital you don't lose it." On another day, the home side would run out winners. It wasn't to be and the gap remains at five between the two. A huge amount of credit to the boys on Wednesday morning as they dug deep to earn their point and keep their unbeaten start to the campaign alive.

Next up for our Development side is a trip to Bedworth United.

Match details

Match date

Wed 09 Oct 2024

Kickoff

11:00
Team overview
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