Gloucestershire FA Minor Cup Quarter Final Thornbury Baptist Church FC 0 The Sanctuary 2 (Abandoned after 84 mins) IN a weekend where the national football scene was dominated by the ‘magic of the FA Cup’, this fixture was more than living up to its Cup quarter-final billing before it was brought to an unpleasant end by a terrible injury.

Sanctuary centre-back Matt Davies fell crashing to the floor with what appeared to be a serious dislocation of his shoulder.

The astounding coincidence is that this was the second consecutive injury of this nature in successive games on the Alveston pitch after Thornbury striker Ash Tuck was hospitalised in the last fixture before Christmas.

Up to 84 minutes this had been a fantastic cup tie. It was end-to-end action on an ever-deteriorating pitch as the showers came and went and Thornbury will look back on it wondering how on earth they didn’t register on the scoresheet.

With Tuck sidelined it was Stu Kelly up front, with Jimmy Cooke and Jon Cordle pushing on from midfield and the early chances fell to Cooke and Kelly in the main, though Will Crabtree also fired a good strike across the face of goal midway through the first half.

Sanctuary hit a post at the other end and Dave Lane saved low to his left from a free kick but with the deadlock unbroken at half-time, Thornbury looked the favourites.

The second half followed a similar pattern but still the Baps could not convert a chance and the visitors took full advantage when the same player got himself free to head in from a free-kick on 65 minutes and then again from a corner on 80 minutes.

The second was a crushing blow for the hosts who would still have backed themselves to nick a goal back.

Unfortunately, though, the game will now be put at the mercy of the GFA and frankly the result had become the least of anyone’s worries with Matt Davies sprawled in agony inside his own, by now, mud-bathing penalty area.

He was instantly in agony and again, there was no option but to phone an ambulance and halt proceedings on the pitch.

As the coincidences mounted up it was the watching Tuck, who fortunately is medically-trained himself, who took on Davies’ care duties.

Some 70 minutes later, in pouring rain and with no sign of the ambulance so there was no option but to try and move Davies who was doing well not to catch hypothermia.

The referee had already abandoned the game at 4pm and at 5pm the club was advised that no ambulance could attend and he would have to make his way to hospital in a car.

The Gloucestershire FA will now decide whether the result stands and Sanctuary will more than feel that they have earned a semi-final appearance.

Thornbury extend their best wishes to Matt Davies and will be just looking to get through 90 minutes next time they are back at Alveston.