Ashland Rovers — Sat 21 Feb 2009

Match report

Half time: 1 – 2

Samba entertained Ashland Rovers six weeks after a narrow 1-0 defeat in the corresponding fixture. Samba made a number of changes for the game, most of them enforced, with Nicholls, Wilkinson, Gibbons and Misouda all returning to the starting XI. There was also a place in the line up for David Bassett, who was returning for one game only to help out the Samba defence. The game was played at Colwick, as Burton Road’s changing rooms were being refurbished and Samba lined up 3-5-2 on a narrow pitch. The opening exchanges were first and furious with little in the way of quality and it would be a fair to argue that Ashland started marginally the better. There were few chances, though Ashland forced a succession of corners and one attempt was cleared off the line. Ashland were also denied a chance on goal when their player was wrongly flagged off-side, as it was a Samba player who had the last touch. Slowly the game got a bit more stretched and Wilford picked out M.Bassett with a clever ball in the left hand channel. Bassett looked up to drive the ball across but the cross was blocked by the defender for a corner. At the other end a free kick for Ashland almost presented a golden chance on the edge of the six yd box but D.Bassett’s long legs enabled him to recover in time. Ashland were starting to get careless in possession in their own half and on one occasion Gibbons forced his way past the defenders and into the box. His left foot shot was too high however and the opportunity missed. The half time discussion was mainly positive but with a clear message that the football should be played in the opposition’s half, as on one or two occasions over-playing could have cost Samba.

The second half started very positively for the Sandboys, with Ashland playing quite deep it allowed Samba to impose their 3-5-2 formation on the away side and pin them back. With about 10 minutes of the second half played, Samba scored their first goal since December! It was worth waiting for as well as a fluent passing move out to the right saw Gibbons cross and Misouda arriving from midfield side footed home with great calm and composure. It was a massive psychological boost for Samba and you could tell straight away that it lifted them. Players started to commit forward with more purpose and Samba were getting 4-5 players into the box during each move. G.Taylor had an opportunity when he gathered the ball into his feet with his back to goal, 12yds out. He had Gibbons on the edge of the box and M.Bassett to his left, but opted to shoot and was narrowly wide. B.Horton on for Brewer, went the closest to adding a second goal when he turned in the box and saw his shot hit the box from close range with the keeper clearly beaten. Ashland had rarely been a threat and Samba looked comfortable. A rare foray into Samba territory saw Ashland earn a corner and from the resultant set piece disaster struck. Hill on as a substitute rose to head clear the ball but got his angles wrong and delivered an unstoppable bullet header into the net with Nicholls helpless. The ironic fact was that if Hill hadn’t have headed the ball, D.Bassett would have surely cleared it with ease. The goal shook Samba and alerted Ashland to the possibility of a surprise win. For the next five minutes Ashland took advantage of Samba’s sloppiness and had several chances to win it. A great leap and tip over the bar from Nicholls prevented a winning headed goal from Ashland but they weren’t to be denied. Following a clearance from a corner the ball was put back into the edge of the box and the Ashland striker spun and hit a low shot into the bottom right hand corner of the net. Samba had been mugged, made worse by strong appeals that the striker had controlled the ball with his hand before finishing. It was a depressing end to what had promised to be a good day but Ashland fought to the end and Samba were guilty of playing for only 80mins.