BUILDBASE FA VASE SECOND ROUND
Thornbury Town 1
Cribbs FC 3
(After extra-time)
PLUCKY underdogs Thornbury saw their Wembley dreams ended after Toolstation Western Premier League Cribbs FC edged this FA Vase tie in extra-time, writes Mark Franklin.
Earlier, a bumper crowd of 222 saw Thornbury take the field with no changes to the side that took them into second in the league at Malmesbury the week before.
Although Cribbs looked comfortable in possession they lacked a cutting edge and their only efforts on goal, notably a direct free-kick from George Kellow, were easily dealt with by Kurtis Parkin in the home goal
Thornbury were relying on the pace of Harry Brock up front and a mid-half run saw him brought down by the Cribbs No.5, Tom Burns, who saw yellow
The card count was evened up late in the half when Brandon Benjamin was booked for a challenge on Jake Hodgson as Thornbury finished strongly - good work down the right by Marcus Wormwell but crosses coming to nothing.
Nil-nil at the break – a fairly even contest with Cribbs having the majority of the possession but with very few chances created by either side
A surprise substitution at half-time saw Wormwell replaced by Jacob Farthing and five minutes into the half Thornbury had their first shot of the game when Brock fired well over with Rhys Hodgson following suit shortly afterwards.
A Cribbs substitution just before the hour and good play resulted in a corner soon after when on the hour mark a corner taken by Jordan Yeo was met by the head of Hodgson – one nil to the visitors
Thornbury reshuffled their formation on 67 minutes with the introduction of Toby Bennett and with Jim Brock on, they looked to create an opening as time started to run out
With more players forward, on 83 minutes the ball fell to Benjamin outside the box who drilled the ball into the bottom corner off the inside of the post.
There were a few half chances for Thornbury as they finished the 90 the stronger side but the whistle blew at 1-1 and it was into extra-time. Within a minute a driven cross from the right from Yeo was diverted into his own goal by Nathan Sage and as legs tired it was going to be an uphill task to even take the tie to a replay.
Despite their efforts, Thornbury failed to create a meaningful shot and with a minute left and pushing forward, Cribbs’ Ethan Feltham made sure with a nice touch and finish past Parkin to make it 3-1
Man of the Match – Brandon Benjamin (Thornbury Town) a great combative performance capped by a fantastic strike
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