KitmanUK League Cup Final 2019/20
Rothwell Corinthians v Holbeach United
Wednesday 4th November 2020
Lincoln Road, Stamford.
Report and photos from Finbarr Carroll.
260 days has passed since Rothwell and Hobeach won their respective semi-finals in this KitmanUK competition and it seems forever ago that the Corinthians won in the first round away at Rushden & Higham on September 3rd 2019 and I was there to report on that game as well. The lovely little ground of Blackstones was the venue on a cold but dry evening with a bit of fog and smoke from fireworks hanging in the air.
Holbeach got the game underway and it was pretty even between the two sides from the start with good play on both sides trying to get into forward positions with some lovely passes from Corinthians Dodzi Agbenu and Tom Mills and some nice play on the Tigers left from Jordan Elston. The first real chance of he game fell to the Tigers from a super pass by Fraser Bayliss to team-mate Joe Smith with Smith having a shot and forcing a save out of Corinthians keeper Ashley Bodycote. Bayliss was making his debut for the Tigers, not a bad way to make your debut with the first game being a cup final. Tigers Tom Smith also had a chance when one on one with Ash Bodycote, but Bodycote stayed big and saved the effort from Smith
Dodzi Agbenu was really putting in a shift for the Corinthians on the left wing and causing the Tigers defence, Luke Wilson, Tom Smith, Jon Fairweather and their captain Spencer Tinkler some anxious moments.
A free-kick for Holbeach taken by Jon Fairweather from around the half-way line found its way into the Corinthians box where it was headed clear to find Fraser Bayliss on the edge of the area, but the shot from Bayliss went over the Rothwell crossbar.
We saw the first player go into the book of referee Mehul Karia when Corinthians Lewis Bugess was shown a yellow card.
Chances were being created by both sides with a Dodzi Agbenu cross into the Holbeach box finding colleague Craig Maisiri with Maisiri heading over, a shot from Corinthians Jordan Henson going wide and a break out of defence from Hobeach ending with a fine run and shot from Luke Wilson seeing his effort going just wide. A free-kick for Rothwell taken by Agbenu saw his direct effort on goal try and catch out Tigers keeper Rick Drury, but Drury had his wits about him and got two hands on the ball to safely catch the ball from an inch of his crossbar and managed to land on his feet without crossing the goal-line.
Adam Jackson was putting in a shift for his Holbeach side on the right side of the pitch but was met by some fine defending from the Corinthians back four in Jamie Mastropierro, Lewis Burgess, Aaron Campion and the Rothwell captain Dan Cooper.
The last big chance to break the deadlock fell to the Corinthians when a fine run from Agbenu saw him put the ball over into the Hobeach penalty area where it was met by team-mate Nat Gosnal-Tyler who had his shot defended with it falling to Craig Maisiri who just couldn’t get his boot on the ball and it went safe for the tigers. Half-time 0-0.
The second half started off much in the same vein as the first half had finished with both sides getting forward and also some fine solid defending. A Holbeach corner-kick taken by Adam Jackson found Fraser Bayliss in the box but Bayliss could only head the ball downwards and not as direct as he would have liked and the Corinthians were able to clear.
Rothwell then had Tom Mills booked for a foul on Tigers forward William Barnes. Not long after, Holbeach had Fraser Bayliss seeing a yellow card.
Holbeach were playing a very high line in their defence catching the Rothwell forward line out offside time after time, with some of the decisions being disputed by those looking on.
A Holbeach throw-in nearly caught Rothwell unaware with it ending up with Fraser Bayliss at the Corinthians near post and somehow Bayliss managed to get a half overhead kick, half scissor kick on the ball and nearly squeeze the ball between the upright and keeper Bodycote, but Bodycote managed to to get a hand on the ball to stop it going in his net and then diving on the ball before any Holbeach player backing up could get a toe on the ball.
In the 62nd minute a shot from Corinthians centre-forward Craig Maisiri was blocked by one of his own team-mates with the ball falling to Tom Mills in the centre of the goal halfway between the penalty spot and the six yard box, Mills could not believe his luck and even had time to look in the direction of the assistant referee to check if he was offside, when he realised he wasn’t, Mills hit the ball low into the goal in the opposite direction Tigers goalie Rick Drury was expecting to put Rothwell one nil up. 1-0.
The next chance of the game fell to the Corinthians, but the effort by Dodzi Agbenu when high over the bar and in the direction of where my car was parked.
The game got a bit scrappy with Holbeach throwing all but the kitchen sink at Rothwell trying for an equaliser and Rothwell defending stoutly and getting up field when they could. We saw the first substitutions made when Rothwell introduced Callum Plowright for Ben Johnson and Holbeach brought on Jonny Lockie for William Barnes.
We then had a situation that left everyone confused on the side of the pitch I was watching from, which was between the dug-outs, when on the far side of the pitch, Rothwell’s Tom Mills was fouled and it looked like Mills was trying to get the ball from underneath a Holbeach player to take the free-kick, when the the referee walked over and showed a red card to Mills.
When it looked like Rothwell were going to see out the game with the one goal in credit, Jonny Lockie, having not been on the pitch long, fired a shot from in front of goal with only the Corinthians keeper Bodycote to beat, Lockie hit his shot with power and it looked like we were heading for a penalty shoot-out when Ash Bodycote somehow got a hand to the ball to steer it over his crossbar leaving the team-mates of Lockie holding their heads in their hands not believing the ball had not gone in the net. Absolute brilliant save from Bodycote. Final score 1-0
I was glad I was not asked to pick the man of the match from this game as I would have struggled to pick one, both sides, especially with the game being cup final, had played out of their skins knowing that with another lockdown hitting us, that they had a good month to rest from this game. Obviously Rothwell, after an 86 year wait to win this cup, will be the happier of the two sides waiting for football to start again.
Teams
Rothwell Corinthians
Ash Bodycote
Jamie Mastropierro
Lewis Burgess
Ben Johnson
Aaron Campion
Dan Cooper (c)
Nat Gosnal-Tyler
Tom Mills
Craig Maisiri
Jordan Henson
Dodzi Agbenu
Substitutes
Kieran Westbury
Callum Plowright
James Reed
Martyn Thorpe
Holbeach United
Rick Drury
Luke Wilson
Tom Smith
Joe Smith
Jon Fairweather
Spencer Tinkler
Jordan Elston
Adam Jackson
Fraser Bayliss
William Barnes
Michael Frew
Substitutes
Joe Braithwaite
Jonny Lockie
Rief Clarke
Joe Millinson
Thomas Coote
Referee, Mehul Karia
Assistants, Kevin Seckington, William Hardie.
