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| Saturday 26 March 2005 East Court 3 Chailey 2 A GOAL in the dying minutes from player-manager Daniel Medcalf gave East Court all three crucial points in this Mid Sussex Football League Division 5 match at Imberhorne School on Saturday (March 26). The cliche that football is a game of two halves was never more true than in this game with the home side dominating the first period with Chailey well on top in the second. However, it was the away side that grabbed the lead when Adam Shillibeer failed to cut out a long ball over the top and a Chailey player smashed his shot into the bottom corner. East Court were level immediately when Billy Denyer broke the offside trap and slammed his shot past the Chailey keeper. The away team had a chance to take the lead when the referee harshly ruled Shillibeer had fouled a Chailey player in the penalty box but the spot-kick went wide. After that East Court had a series of chances to go ahead but Ben Sunderland and Denyer were guilty of missing golden opportunities which probably would have made the second half comfortable for the home side. As it was it was Chailey that came out with all guns blazing and East Court were indebted to goakeeper and man-of-the-match Paul Bishop for keeping his side in the game. He made a string of fine saves, the pick of which saw him get fingertips to a shot to help it on to the crossbar. However, there was nothing he could do to stop Chailey going in front midway through the half from a Chailey breakaway despite the best efforts of captain Martyn Bishop to prevent the ball crossing the line. Super-sub Clarkson-Tooze replaced Sunderland and chased every ball. Moments later Denyer saw his effort come back off the crossbar and it looked like East Court were heading for their second league defeat of the season. But Clarkson-Tooze conjured up a bit of magic on the edge of the Chailey box and his shot flew over the keeper and into the top corner for the equaliser. Chris Butler came on for Paul Brice as East Court pushed forward for the winner, which came minutes from the end when Medcalf burst clear and rolled the ball past the on-rushing keeper and into the bottom corner. East Court closed the game out to stop Chailey pushing forward for an equaliser and their hard work was epitomised by striker Ross Kelly who threw himself in front of every ball being played out the away side's defence as East Court held on for an important victory. Team: P.Bishop, A.Wright, D.Medcalf, L.Champion, A.Shillibeer, M.Bishop, P.Brice (C.Butler), B.Denyer, R.Kelly, B.Sunderland (N.Clarkson-Tooze), C.Buckler |