On a blustery night at the Community Stadium, the Crows involvement in the SCFA Sussex Senior Cup came to an abrupt end as the visitors, Little Common, dealt with the conditions better and ran out worthy winners in the end.
Little Common’s front duo of Jamie Crone and Lewis Hole gave the Crows problems all night with their perpetual movement and an early scare saw a shot deflected just past the post with Ben Head wrong footed.
The Crows respond with a good knock down by Elliot Wood which was meant for Carrington but it just runs through to the visitor’s goalkeeper, Richie Gray, with Sam Carrington closing him down fast.
The conditions made it very difficult for the players of both teams and several players kept falling over whilst finding it difficult to keep on their feet. A feature throughout the match was the visitor’s willingness to shoot from distance and at will whenever the opportunity arose, thus taking advantage of the windy conditions.
In an even start to the match, number nine for Little Common, Lewis Hole, fired in a terrific shot which was met by an equally brilliant one handed save by Ben Head to keep the scores level at 0-0.
Athletic again respond and both Luke Carpenter and Alex Rich tried their luck from free-kicks, Carpenter fired just over from twenty five yards and Rich set Ransome up with another free kick which resulted in a goalmouth melee and this was eventually dealt with by the away goalkeeper, much to the relief of his defence.
Little Common had an opportunity from a free kick of their own from a good area and the resultant shot, whilst eluding the wall, did make Head work as it was on target and it lead to them taking a 1-0 lead. Head made a good save but as he was not able to hold the ball, Crone reacts quicker than anyone else and puts the ball in the Crows net from close range.
In response to going 1-0 down, the home side did have chances, Carrington heading a free kick into Gray’s hands, then Carpenter, cutting in from the right, hits a terrific low shot from distance that is very well held by the Little Common goalkeeper.
The Crows suffered an injury blow just before half-time as Carrington had to go off with a rib problem and he was replaced by Taylor who slotted in to the midfield of the home side.
Half time was reached with the Crows only 1-0 down so there was all to play for and the expectation was that the Crows could still get back in to this match and go on to win it with a bit of luck thrown in as well.
The second half started well for the Crows and they made another substitution, Everest replacing Turner. They also pegged the away side back to the edge of their area and this led to frantic penalty appeals as Ridley appeared to be upended in the area, only for the referee to wave away the home side’s protestations. Chances come and go for the home side, Paul Butler heads over and free kicks and corners all end up being defended by the away side. Due to the blustery conditions, the away goalkeeper miss judges a cross and the ball just misses the post.
On sixty five minutes disaster strikes for the Crows as Little Common go 2-0 up. A defensive mix-up means that Hole is left with the simple task of putting the ball in to an empty net. Therefore, due to missed chances and poor defending, the Crows now find themselves 2-0 down and a mountain to climb.
Little Common could now sit back and defend their lead which meant that Athletic were vulnerable to the counter-attack, however, the home side never gave up and pressed on, trying to get at least one back, which they nearly did, Ransome hitting a brilliant strike, only for the ball to hit the inside of the post and go safe.
With the home side pouring forward with only minutes remaining, Head was left exposed as Little Common broke away quickly and Smith was able to score the final goal of the night. 3-0 to Little Common and the Crows are out of the SCFA Sussex Senior Cup in a tie they would have thought they should win prior to kick off. However, you can’t win every game and I’m sure lessons will be learned for future reference.