On Saturday, Cullompton travelled to North Devon to play Premier West side Holsworthy, in the first round of the Walter Parsons league cup. There had been a lot of rain in the area over the past week, which made the playing surface cut up during the game.
At the kick off, Cullompton gained an early corner, from which the home side managed to scramble away to safety.
As the game settled down, it became obvious that the home side were up for the challenge, and were not allowing Cullompton to play their normal passing game. However, a long ball out of defence found Lewis Hill, who latched onto a mistake by a home defender, to score from the edge of the box.
The home side responded well, especially on the right side of Cullompton’s defence, and it was from one of these attacks that they equalised, when from a cross into the Cullompton box, a home forward scored. At the restart, Aiden was hacked down by an home defender, an offence the referee deemed to be dangerous, and showed the player a red card.
Cullompton however, did not take advantage of playing against 10 men. Although there was 20 minutes of the half to go, it was the home side who took the initiative and looked the more likely side to score.
As the referee brought the half to an end, it was Cullompton who looked more relieved to hear the whistle.
Right from the restart it was the home side who began the brighter. Even with a man down, they were terriers in their tackling, hounding the Cullompton defence and winning a number of early corners.
It wasn’t long before the home side took the lead, when from another corner, poor marking allowed an unmarked player to head home.
The game became very scrappy now, with both sides making mistakes, and passing wasn’t easy on a very bumpy pitch.
It was Cullompton though who broke the deadlock, when Lewis Hill raced on to a long ball to out muscle a defender, crossing for Aiden to score. Minutes later they had a great chance to go back into lead, when Lewis was brought down in the area, by the home full back: penalty. Will Pinnick stepped up to take the kick, which was well saved by the keeper.
Both sides seemed to be running out of ideas, when out of nowhere another long ball into the home side’s penalty area, was again chased down by Lewis and with the same full back fouling him, another penalty. Lewis placed the ball on the spot, sending the keeper the wrong way to score.
The last 10 minutes became a bit hectic with the home side searching for an equaliser, and Cullompton determined to keep them out.
There was still time for a few scares, when the home side were awarded a free kick on the edge of the Cullompton penalty area.The resulting kick was well saved by Will, pushing the ball away for a corner.
From the corner kick Lewis Hill headed the ball off the line, and in the resulting melee, the referee blew for a handball and a penalty. From the spot kick Will brought off a brilliant double save, when he parried the kick, recovering well to save the follow up shot.
There were no further incidents as the referee blew for full time.
Not an easy game for Cullompton, against a determined and tough tackling side, and on a pitch that was unlike the surfaces they have played on so far this season.
Final score Holsworthy 2 Cullompton 3.
Rev the roving reporter
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