East Court FC - Unofficial

Saturday 08 January 2005
East Court FC 5 Fairwarp 1

EAST Court progressed to the quarter finals of the Mid Sussex Football League Stratford Cup with victory over division 5 rivals Fairwarp at Imberhorne on Saturday (January 8).

The gale force winds made life difficult for both teams and it was Billy Denyer who has the first chance for the home side but his shot drifted wide.

However, they took the lead when Andrew Wright's delightful through ball found Nick Clarkson-Tooze who slid it beyond the onrushing Fairwarp keeper.

The away side were level shortly when Wright was adjudged to have handled the ball and the resulting speculative free kick eluded everyone including East Court keeper Paul Bishop and ended in the net.

East Court were back in front when Denyer found Carl Buckler on the left and he squared the ball to Ross Kelly who lashed the ball home to give the home side the advantage at the break.

Fairwarp broke away at the start of the second half but Paul Bishop made up for his earlier error and managed to thwart the attack.

The home side extended their lead when Denyer thundered the ball home after the referee turned down shouts for a penalty.

Captain Simon Nickols dictated the midfield battle while the defence of Adam Shillibeer, Martyn Bishop, Wright and Nick Palmer gave the Fairwarp front line little time on the ball. Player-manager Daniel Medcalf made changes bringing James Crittell on for Buckler and replacing Kelly with Ben Sunderland, who was unlucky to see an effort hit a post.
Paul Brice was replaced by James Salter, who added East Court's fourth with a long-range effort which took a wicked deflection off a Fairwarp defender.

Man of the match Clarkson-Tooze had a goal bizzarely disallowed for offside but grabbed his second of the game after combining with Denyer as East Court set up a home quarter final tie with Lindfield III at the end of the month.

Team: P.Bishop, A.Wright, N.Palmer, S.Nickols, A.Shillibeer, M.Bishop, P.Brice (Ja.Crittell), B.Denyer, R.Kelly (B.Sunderland), N.Clarkson-Tooze, C.Buckler (J.Salter)