Sales back to haunt Eastleigh in FA Cup
EASTLEIGH V SALISBURY
SATURDAY 14th OCTOBER 2006
FA CUP SPONSORED BY E.ON 3rd QUALIFYING ROUND
Former Eastleigh striker Paul Sales, came back to haunt the Spitfires as his 61st minute strike was enough to send Salisbury into the next round of the competition with Eastleigh’s cup run coming to an abrupt end.
The tie began explosively with Jamie Brown smashing against the underside of the bar after just one minute. Liam Green, who has now returned to the Silverlake Stadium from his loan spell at Dorchester, picked out Brown as Whites centre half Tim Bond slipped giving the Eastleigh striker time to chest the ball down and fire at goal. Salisbury were let off as the effort came back off the bar before being cleared off the goal line.
In the very next minute Andy Forbes came inches wide with a left foot strike, latching on to Danny Smith’s through ball.
After this exciting start from Eastleigh, both sides began to get sloppy in particular with the final ball as neither side could find a way through the defences. Fit again Rob Marshall was very dominant in the air early on and led the line well whilst at the other end the front men found chances hard to come by despite having two very good chances inside the opening two minutes of the game.
Salisbury’s first attempt on goal, like Eastleigh’s, saw the crossbar come to the rescue. A long drop kick from Ryan Clarke led to leading Conference South marksmen, Matt Tubbs, tee up Paul Sales who sidestepped an Eastleigh challenge before curling the ball towards the top right hand corner – but to Wayne Shaw’s relief, the ball went out for a goal kick having hit the woodwork.
This slight scare for Eastleigh appeared to shake them into action as they began to play some good, passing football towards the end of the half. Following a high foot decision against Salisbury on skipper Andy Harris, Eastleigh’s free kick very nearly produced a goal. With both Bertie Brayley and Harris standing over the ball and shaping to shoot, Harris played it into the feet of Jamie Brown who nudged it wide for Liam Green. Green then took it past Jon Bass before unleashing a powerful strike from a tight angle forcing an excellent save out of Ryan Clarke. Eastleigh defender, Chris Collins followed in heading the rebound from a couple of yards but again Clarke was more than equal to it pushing it over from point blank range. However if it had gone in, it wouldn’t have stood due to the assistant referee penalising Collins for being in an offside position.
The Whites meanwhile, had an appeal for a penalty turned down as Scott Bartlett and Luke Prince linked up well to create a shooting chance for Sales. The ball bounced off a white shirt but the referee was in a good position and saw no handball.
Eastleigh’s only other chance fell to Danny Smith who hit a left foot half volley straight at the keeper from a Bertie Brayley flick on.
It was Nick Holmes’ side that finished the half the stronger though as they came close twice in the moments before half time. Firstly, Luke Prince’s free kick on the right hand side saw a dangerous delivery strike Jamie Brown at the back post who managed to hook it away as it bobbled towards goal. The lively Matt Tubbs then came a whisker away from the opening goal when his volley on the turn flew just over the bar.
HALF TIME – Eastleigh 0-0 Salisbury
Following on from a fairly even first half, the first real action saw Ian Oliver pick up a yellow card for a strong tackle on Luke Prince.
Liam Green then had a speculative effort deflected wide as he struck the ball from way out after good play from Brayley created the opportunity. Andy Forbes had a free header at the near post but it was cleared with ease as Salisbury relieved the pressure.
In Eastleigh’s next attack, a patient build up from the home side was let down by the final ball. Despite having at least three chances to shoot in the move, the chance was wasted by a wayward pass only adding to the Spitfires frustration in front of goal.
Salisbury’s Jon Bass came within inches of breaking the deadlock with a powerful hit from over 40 yards out with Wayne Shaw struggling to get across.
On the counter attack, Jamie Brown created a chance out of nothing with exceptional close ball control leaving his marker standing, however, with the goal at his mercy from the edge of the area, the Eastleigh striker failed to trouble the keeper.
White’s front men, Sales and Tubbs continued to threaten for the visitors with leading scorer Tubbs pulling away from Rob Marshall getting a shot across goal however Wayne Shaw did well to get a leg to it keeping the ball out.
Ten minutes into the half, Salisbury stopper Ryan Clarke smashed the ball against his own defender, Tim Bond, but was extremely relieved to see the awkward deflection go out for a throw in instead of ending up in his own goal as it so easily could have done.
Moments later, Salisbury took the lead in the 61st minute through a superb all round goal. The excellent Matt Tubbs showed tremendous skill to turn Ian Oliver inside out as he got into the penalty area, he then held off another challenge to cross for strike partner PAUL SALES who eloquently stroked the ball past Shaw with an acrobatic volley that bounced up into the roof of the net.
In the celebrations, former Southampton midfielder Tommy Widdrington had to be stretchered off the pitch for damaging a knee ligament.
There proved to be no way back for Eastleigh after the goal but it was not for the want of trying. Darren Wheeler replaced Liam Green after the hour mark with goalscorer Paul Sales making way for another ex-Eastleigh striker, Robbie Matthews. Wheeler’s first touch of the ball was lethal as he played across goal picking out Danny Smith, but the off-balanced midfielder scuffed the ball from just 6 yards out.
Andy Forbes had a header come close from Bertie Brayley’s corner and on 70 minutes Jamie Brown produced another top save from Ryan Clarke. A long ball up the park from Adam James was flicked on by Forbes to Brown, who struck it first time on the volley. Clarke saved it low to his left stopping Eastleigh from finding a way back into the game yet again.
Fifteen minutes from time Brayley played a one-two with Smith but his dipping effort sailed over the target and it was beginning to look like it was going to be Salisbury’s day.
Eastleigh’s last real chance came when Andy Forbes sprinted from the halfway line with a burst of pace to get past his marker before playing it into the centre. Brown was on the end of it but failed to make any decent contact on the ball.
Robbie Matthews’ bullet header brought the best out of Wayne Shaw before Paul Doswell’s last roll of the dice saw Zach Glasspool thrown on for the final six minutes.
Salisbury held on to their lead and in the end ran out comfortable winners as they came out on top against their local rivals for a second time this season, having already beat them in the league last month. Eastleigh can now concentrate on getting back to winning ways in the Conference South, following this defeat, and things will need to change for the better very soon should the Spitfires have anything to shout about this season.
FULL TIME – Eastleigh 0-1 Salisbury
JAMIE MONTIGUE
SATURDAY 14th OCTOBER 2006
FA CUP SPONSORED BY E.ON 3rd QUALIFYING ROUND
Former Eastleigh striker Paul Sales, came back to haunt the Spitfires as his 61st minute strike was enough to send Salisbury into the next round of the competition with Eastleigh’s cup run coming to an abrupt end.
The tie began explosively with Jamie Brown smashing against the underside of the bar after just one minute. Liam Green, who has now returned to the Silverlake Stadium from his loan spell at Dorchester, picked out Brown as Whites centre half Tim Bond slipped giving the Eastleigh striker time to chest the ball down and fire at goal. Salisbury were let off as the effort came back off the bar before being cleared off the goal line.
In the very next minute Andy Forbes came inches wide with a left foot strike, latching on to Danny Smith’s through ball.
After this exciting start from Eastleigh, both sides began to get sloppy in particular with the final ball as neither side could find a way through the defences. Fit again Rob Marshall was very dominant in the air early on and led the line well whilst at the other end the front men found chances hard to come by despite having two very good chances inside the opening two minutes of the game.
Salisbury’s first attempt on goal, like Eastleigh’s, saw the crossbar come to the rescue. A long drop kick from Ryan Clarke led to leading Conference South marksmen, Matt Tubbs, tee up Paul Sales who sidestepped an Eastleigh challenge before curling the ball towards the top right hand corner – but to Wayne Shaw’s relief, the ball went out for a goal kick having hit the woodwork.
This slight scare for Eastleigh appeared to shake them into action as they began to play some good, passing football towards the end of the half. Following a high foot decision against Salisbury on skipper Andy Harris, Eastleigh’s free kick very nearly produced a goal. With both Bertie Brayley and Harris standing over the ball and shaping to shoot, Harris played it into the feet of Jamie Brown who nudged it wide for Liam Green. Green then took it past Jon Bass before unleashing a powerful strike from a tight angle forcing an excellent save out of Ryan Clarke. Eastleigh defender, Chris Collins followed in heading the rebound from a couple of yards but again Clarke was more than equal to it pushing it over from point blank range. However if it had gone in, it wouldn’t have stood due to the assistant referee penalising Collins for being in an offside position.
The Whites meanwhile, had an appeal for a penalty turned down as Scott Bartlett and Luke Prince linked up well to create a shooting chance for Sales. The ball bounced off a white shirt but the referee was in a good position and saw no handball.
Eastleigh’s only other chance fell to Danny Smith who hit a left foot half volley straight at the keeper from a Bertie Brayley flick on.
It was Nick Holmes’ side that finished the half the stronger though as they came close twice in the moments before half time. Firstly, Luke Prince’s free kick on the right hand side saw a dangerous delivery strike Jamie Brown at the back post who managed to hook it away as it bobbled towards goal. The lively Matt Tubbs then came a whisker away from the opening goal when his volley on the turn flew just over the bar.
HALF TIME – Eastleigh 0-0 Salisbury
Following on from a fairly even first half, the first real action saw Ian Oliver pick up a yellow card for a strong tackle on Luke Prince.
Liam Green then had a speculative effort deflected wide as he struck the ball from way out after good play from Brayley created the opportunity. Andy Forbes had a free header at the near post but it was cleared with ease as Salisbury relieved the pressure.
In Eastleigh’s next attack, a patient build up from the home side was let down by the final ball. Despite having at least three chances to shoot in the move, the chance was wasted by a wayward pass only adding to the Spitfires frustration in front of goal.
Salisbury’s Jon Bass came within inches of breaking the deadlock with a powerful hit from over 40 yards out with Wayne Shaw struggling to get across.
On the counter attack, Jamie Brown created a chance out of nothing with exceptional close ball control leaving his marker standing, however, with the goal at his mercy from the edge of the area, the Eastleigh striker failed to trouble the keeper.
White’s front men, Sales and Tubbs continued to threaten for the visitors with leading scorer Tubbs pulling away from Rob Marshall getting a shot across goal however Wayne Shaw did well to get a leg to it keeping the ball out.
Ten minutes into the half, Salisbury stopper Ryan Clarke smashed the ball against his own defender, Tim Bond, but was extremely relieved to see the awkward deflection go out for a throw in instead of ending up in his own goal as it so easily could have done.
Moments later, Salisbury took the lead in the 61st minute through a superb all round goal. The excellent Matt Tubbs showed tremendous skill to turn Ian Oliver inside out as he got into the penalty area, he then held off another challenge to cross for strike partner PAUL SALES who eloquently stroked the ball past Shaw with an acrobatic volley that bounced up into the roof of the net.
In the celebrations, former Southampton midfielder Tommy Widdrington had to be stretchered off the pitch for damaging a knee ligament.
There proved to be no way back for Eastleigh after the goal but it was not for the want of trying. Darren Wheeler replaced Liam Green after the hour mark with goalscorer Paul Sales making way for another ex-Eastleigh striker, Robbie Matthews. Wheeler’s first touch of the ball was lethal as he played across goal picking out Danny Smith, but the off-balanced midfielder scuffed the ball from just 6 yards out.
Andy Forbes had a header come close from Bertie Brayley’s corner and on 70 minutes Jamie Brown produced another top save from Ryan Clarke. A long ball up the park from Adam James was flicked on by Forbes to Brown, who struck it first time on the volley. Clarke saved it low to his left stopping Eastleigh from finding a way back into the game yet again.
Fifteen minutes from time Brayley played a one-two with Smith but his dipping effort sailed over the target and it was beginning to look like it was going to be Salisbury’s day.
Eastleigh’s last real chance came when Andy Forbes sprinted from the halfway line with a burst of pace to get past his marker before playing it into the centre. Brown was on the end of it but failed to make any decent contact on the ball.
Robbie Matthews’ bullet header brought the best out of Wayne Shaw before Paul Doswell’s last roll of the dice saw Zach Glasspool thrown on for the final six minutes.
Salisbury held on to their lead and in the end ran out comfortable winners as they came out on top against their local rivals for a second time this season, having already beat them in the league last month. Eastleigh can now concentrate on getting back to winning ways in the Conference South, following this defeat, and things will need to change for the better very soon should the Spitfires have anything to shout about this season.
FULL TIME – Eastleigh 0-1 Salisbury
JAMIE MONTIGUE
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