Match Report

Hendon
1
Worcester City
1
Date:
Monday 11 December 2000
Competition:
FA Trophy
Attendance:
122
Venue:
St Albans City

Match Report

Hendon and Worcester City will have to do it all over again following Monday night's 1-1 FA Umbro Trophy 2nd round draw at St Albans City's Clarence Park ground.

Manager Frank Murphy made four changes to the team which had started against Carshalton 23 days earlier. Andy Iga, Phil Gridelet, Paul Towler and David Adekola returned to the starting line-up in place of Richard Dee, Ross Pickett (both substitutes), the suspended Gary Fitzgerald and Richard Wilmot, who broke his arm in the last game of his loan period.

Without a game for over three weeks, Hendon's rustiness was clear to behold. The wet, but flat pitch, should have allowed the Greens' passing game to flourish, but it didn't happen. All too often, openings were squandered by wayward passes and the tigerish Worcester defence and midfield closed down space very quickly.

More disappointingly, the distribution from defensive positions and dead ball situations was quite awful. It gave Worcester the confidence and opportunity to attack regularly. Once in the danger area, however, Worcester lacked the sharpness to cut the Hendon defence apart.

In the 30th minute, Hendon finally got some fluency up front. Paul Adolphe delivered a neat pass over the top of the Worcester defence. Davis Haule ran onto the ball and took it around goalkeeper Danny McDonnell, who made the slightest of contact with the striker.

It was just enough to unbalance Haule, who needed a stride or two to regain his equilibrium before sidefooting the ball towards the unguarded net. The delay was critical because Nathan Jukes came flying across to block the goalbound effort. Had Haule gone down, it is unlikely he would have got a penalty and, in truth, a spot-kick would have been harsh on McDonnell.

Six minutes later, the Hendon defence appeared to melt away as Worcester attacked down the left wing. Jukes drove a cross low into the penalty area and found Mark OWEN, unmarked, 10 yards from goal at the far post. His shot back across Iga was too well placed for the goalkeeper, scrambling across his line, to keep the ball out.

In the 41st and 42nd minutes, Marvyn Watson and Gridelet tested McDonnell with powerful long range drives. However both were far too straight to unduly inconvenience the 'keeper. For all of Hendon's poor first half, they still dominated the shots-on-target (6-4) and corner (5-2) tallies. Damningly, however, not one corner kick found a Hendon player's head.

The poor dead-ball kicking didn't improve after the break either. The first two free kicks of the second half were disappointingly aimless. After 58 minutes, Hendon made a double switch, withdrawing Gridelet and Adolphe in favour of the talismanic Dale Binns and Jason Soloman. It took just 10 minutes for the magic switch to work.

Watson and Iain Duncan worked some space down the right flank, drawing a couple of defenders out of position. Watson sent the ball to Adekola, who rode one tackle and took out the last man with a neat pass to Binns. McDonnell came off his line, but BINNS took the ball around him and rifled a low shot, from a narrow angle, into the net.

In the 77th minute, McDonnell pulled off a stunning save to deny Haule after Hendon finally put together an incisive passing move. It led to a corner from which Worcester really should have won the game. Duncan's cross was headed away as Towler came storming in, his impetus suggesting that he had been shoved on his way.

A quick counter-attack saw Wesley Joyce bursting through on Iga, but he just as Haule had in the first half, having gone around the goalkeeper, failed to hit the target thanks a fantastic piece of covering work.

In the 88th minute, Worcester almost threw it away. Their first piece of really poor defending gave Ross Pickett (on for Haule), a half-chance if he could have brought the ball down quickly. He couldn't but set up Soloman, whose low 30-yard drive would have found the bottom corner but Mark Tucker hacked the ball clear.

The replay will be next Monday, 18 December, at St George's Lane, Worcester, kick-off 7.45 pm. The winners will be at home to Dr Martens (Southern) League West Division Tiverton Town in round 3 on 13 January.

Report by David Ballheimer

Hendon

1
Andy Iga
2
Iain Duncan
3
Simon Clarke
4
Jon Daly
5
Paul Towler
6
Marvyn Watson
7
Paul Adolphe
8
Warren Kelly
9
David Adekola
10
Davis Haule
11
Phil Gridelet
12
Dale Binns
14
Jason Solomon
15
Ross Pickett
16
Richard Dee
17
Paul Johnson

Match Events

Mark Tucker
36''
Danny Scheppel replaced Ian Cottrill
46''
58''
Jason Solomon replaced Phil Gridelet
58''
Dale Binns replaced Paul Adolphe
68''
Dale Binns
Wesley Joyce replaced Michael Cotter
71''
Martin Weir replaced Andy Bradley
79''
81''
Ross Pickett replaced Davis Haule

Worcester City

1
Danny McDonnell
2
Andy Bradley
3
Nathan Jukes
4
Mark Tucker
5
Carl Heeley
6
Steve Lutz
7
Paul Carty
8
Ian Cottrill
9
Mark Owen
10
Michael Cotter
11
Ian Reed
12
Martin Weir
14
Danny Scheppel
15
Wesley Joyce
16
Jamie Hyde
17
Paul Wyatt