Manor’s reserves put in a superb performance last night to
dispatch Barking 3-1 to move into the Reserve Shield Semi’s. Goals from Rhys Fatt, Nick Henesy and an own
goal gave Manor the victory over a side who have only lost once in the league
all season and dumped Canvey Island out in the previous round.
The game started with Manor immediately on the front foot
and hit the underside of the bar within a minute. Manor’s work ethic was plan to see and no
more so than Harrison Grant in the middle who was everywhere putting in tackles
and generally upsetting Barking’s rhythm. As well as that he was also playing good balls up to the
front two, Fatt and Bright, but on a couple of occasions the flag happy
linesman from Barking, rightly or wrongly, flagged for offside, much to Manor’s
frustration. Fatt did beat the ‘offside’
trap eventually but his effort from a narrow angle went over. Then on 32 minutes Barking took the lead completely against
the run of play when a ball into the box invaded the back line, probably for
the only time in the match, and it was controlled well and prodded past Warren
into the corner. Manor almost levelled
immediately when McCarthy’s header across goal was not converted by Connor Lane
at the back post but this was as bad as it got for Manor and they bounced back
within two minutes to level the tie when Rhys Fatt was played in through on
goal and he steadied himself and struck the ball past the keeper for an
equaliser that was the least Manor deserved. Manor were playing all the football now and were causing
Barking a few problems and as the half time whistle sounded Manor would have
been the happier of the two sides, albeit they only had one goal to show for
it. Manor came out a bit slow at the start of the second half
allowing Barking too much possession and rushing things instead of taking their
time on the ball, something boss Wayne Seal had spoken to them in the dressing
room at the half about. But it didn’t take
Manor long to get back into their rhythm and on 54 minutes they finally took
the lead when a great run by Shay Kelly, who had been a colossus at full back
all evening, ended with him squaring the ball to captain Nick Henesy whose
deflected shot from outside the box beat the keeper down to his left hand side
for a 2-1 lead. This galvanized Manor into their liquid football and they
were playing some neat pass and move style football which was awesome to watch
at times. Grant was still snapping away in
midfield and this was another feature of Manor’s play, winning the ball back
when losing possession, and time and time again this was the case. Barking’s could only resort to long balls
towards their forwards but Dan McCarthy was winning everything in the air,
along with his fellow centre back Connor Lane, giving Barking the ‘thy shall
not pass’ message loud and clear. Manor made the last ten minutes even more comfortable after
a bizarre goal from a bizarre situation.
Barking had a throw on and the referee told them to retreat back half
way inside their half. But they took too
long to take it so the referee, Mr Chittock, decided that he would reverse the
decision and give Manor the throw. This
upset Barking quite a lot and while they were bickering Manor got on with it
and from the throw on Fiander crossed the ball into the area and a total misunderstanding
between full back and goalkeeper resulted in the full back heading past the
keeper who was coming for the cross. A
very bizarre set of circumstances but Manor cared not and to be fair probably
deserved it on balance of play. Barking threw men forward to try and get something but Manor’s
defensive remained as solid as ever and they easily saw out the game to
win. Manor now await the winners of
Thursday night’s tie between AFC Hornchurch and London APSA to see who they
play in the semi-finals and if they play like they did tonight then anything is
possible!!!
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