Barely's Run Unchecked

Russell Athletic 1 - 4 Barely Athletic

Alan

Dave        Colin          Batts         Graham

Sam          Mike         Chris            Kev Andrews

    Gareth        Alastair

Subs:
Mark
John T
Kevin Dobbs
Laurie

Barely's unbeaten run now stretches to five games, four of them victories, as they avoided the visual impairment commonly called having one eye on the cup. With the final looming, one might have forgiven them a duff result in the league, but Batts was having none of it.

The pitch was rock hard with cracks wide enough to lose your car keys in, but fortunately Barely stuck with tradition and took to the field without them. A strong bench augmented the team's 4-4-2 line-up, with Gareth and Alastair making trouble up front. With several absentees in the centre of midfield Mike and Chris stepped up and started bossing things as Barely began well. In fact they should have began even better, but when a cross from the left fell to Sam, he skewed the ball wide of the post with the goal at his mercy.

No matter - five minutes later, Kev charged into the box and his Loftus-like persistence took him past a couple of challenges before squaring the ball. This time Sam made no mistake, and Barely were deservedly in front.

They had several opportunities to increase their lead before half time, as pressure on the Russell box increased, but seemed to lose its focus at the final ball. Gareth did manage to increase the lead, though, powering in Sam's through-ball to put Barely 2-0 up. It looked like the jig might be up for the home team... but Russell responded with an excellent free-kick flying in under the crossbar, to end the half just a single goal behind.

Batts shifted personnel while keeping the same formation, but Barely started the second half looking slightly bewildered as a transformed Russell laid siege to the Barely goal. Alan was called upon several times to snaffle up the odd ball, and the back line were kept busy.

But the Russell storm was weathered, and Barely began to shade the game again. Once more the ball was often flying toward the opposition goal, and once more it seemed it was destined to not go in - at first. Then a delightful Barely move down the right wing ended with Chris dancing to the byline and chipping a cross into the box. John Trimble was in the right place to bundle it over the line, and Barely's two-goal advantage was restored.

Russell weren't out of it - another free-kick looked in danger of sailing in before Alan pawed it over the bar - and although they weren't the most mobile team Barely have played, they put together the odd bit of decent pressure. But again, most of the chances fell to Barely, with Kev kicking himself after he sliced a chance wide of the post, and unluckily glanced a header a foot over the bar. Mike gambled into the box, only to see his shot cannon off the post. But Barely wrapped up the points with ten minutes left - Gareth chased down a short back-pass and as he and the keeper challenged, the ball broke to Sam, who shimmied past the goalie and claimed his second left-footed goal of the day - Barely's fourth.

There was still time for the odd moment of drama either end, but the scoreline had settled into place. The man of the match vote was again spread wide, reflecting the great team performance, but Gareth claimed it for his overall contributon.

It's not academic

Barely Athletic 2 - 1 Cardiff Accies

Alan

Dave         Batts         Danny         Graham

Sam          Paul L          Jim           Kevin

John T

Darren

Subs:
John R
Mike
Adam
Gareth
Paul T

Barely Athletic are in a cup final for the first time in many, many years, the last occurrence certainly being pre-blog; for how long precisely we would have to ask club historian Nick Ambler, who rather aptly showed up to watch the last half-hour of this game. It was a day of drama, with a lot riding on it. Not only was the match a semi-final, it was also doubling up as a league game, in the kind of fixture-economising the FA can only dream of. The result was far from incidental.

Batts started with a 4-4-1-1 formation with new signing Kevin on the left wing, and Jim Siemens taking a central berth alongside Paul Loftus, who had thankfully sufficiently recovered from a stomach bug to play. And Barely began the game well, breaking up Accie attacks and using the pace of Darren to counter-attack. In fact, they played so well in the first half they were kicking themselves to reach the interval only a goal up. Darren and Kevin both put good chances wide, and Darren and Sam both belted decent half-chances fractionally over the bar. But they were causing the back line all kinds of problems, and that man Dazza was responsible for the lead, running on to a lovely Jim through-ball and snaffling up the chance to put the home team ahead.

Batts had already started ringing the changes - it was a hot day, and the rare sight of a populous Barely subs bench was a welcome sign for all. Even Gareth - initially having gone to the wrong ground - had a run-out down the wing, which included another delicious through-ball, this time to the ever-willing Adam. Somehow Accies had kept it at a single goal deficit, though.

The second half was a more even affair, with Barely shading the first 20 minutes before Accies, to their credit, finished the game the stronger. By that time Barely were 2-0 up though, and happy - all things being equal - to defend. Darren - who was just getting started - was upended in the box, and despite the (surprising) protests, the penalty was despatched by Jim, who was first to the rebound after the keeper initially saved it. Lots of manic roaring ensued from both sides, and the Accies keeper - already grouchy - seemed to descend into a pit of rage. This wasn't helped by Darren, who embarked on a running debate with him over... pretty much everything, and also a series of tackles that involved him calmly apologising immediately afterwards, like Jekyll and Hyde on speed. As things hotted up all over the field, the keeper took his frustration out on the smallest man on the pitch - Adam, who was needlessly barged onto the floor after having the temerity to stand near him.

But the other end, by this time, was where most of the action was. Alan pulled off a couple of smart stops, and several punched clearances as Accies threatened. And when the away team finally did break though - annoyingly, off the back of a Barely goal-kick - to make the score 2-1, they took the box seat for the remainder of the game: corners were won, shots were fired. For Barely, it was backs to the wall: Sam cleared a goal-bound effort off the line. Adam won several free-kicks by dint of simply getting in people's way. Accies shots went narrowly wide, and headers marginally over. At this point, it would have taken a hard heart to begrudge Accies their equaliser, should they find it. But Barely held on! When the final whistle went, Barely had their share of bruises - Darren with a black eye for his trouble - but they were into the final.

And had three points for the win too.

Accies were gracious in defeat, wishing Barely good luck in the final. Man of the Match saw several votes across the board, with a smattering of names getting a nomination. Jim was runner-up with two, but the outright winner was Alan, who put in a busy and impressive shift on his debut. Kudos should also go to Batts for running the show, and supplying not only biscuits, but also a game-plan. The cup final is scheduled for May - clear your diaries!