F A Cup Preliminary Round Replay
Tuesday 5th September 2006 - 7:45 p.m. kick-off
Bromsgrove Rovers 2 Eastwood Town 0
By Phil Baker

Like you never get two siblings the same, you never get two consecutive football matches the same even between the same two teams. Whereas last Saturday it was kick and rush with defensive lapses by both teams, this time no player in either side was going to give an inch. In the end we had a good match and good football and being the FA Cup, a fair amount of tension.

Eastwood must like playing down hill as they just about had the better of Rovers playing towards the town in the fist half though they had nothing to show for it. In the second half Rovers improved their game and took advantage of their opponents who seemed to tire towards the end.

Despite playing more defensive and risk free football both sides created a few chances in the first period. Chris Taylor saved well from Matt McKenzie and Adam Kerley whilst Rovers best effort came from Wayne Dyer on 19 minutes when Ian Deakin had to run backwards and make a good catch after the midfielder tried to lob him from 40 yards. Richard Burgess and Neil Davis both harried the visitors defence but it remained unbreached.

Rovers again came out of the changing room after the break and played better than the first half suggesting that the half-time pep talk is an important part of their game. They certainly moved the ball round well and they made it difficult for the Eastwood defence with defenders Smith and Williams regularly coming up field to assist the attack. And that is how Rovers first goal came about when Joe Williams came up for a free kick and headed against the bar. Eastwood never cleared the ball and it was Williams who picked it up again on the edge of the penalty area firing home to give Rovers the lead.

Eastwood pushed forwarded in search of the equaliser but Rovers defended well and the visitors never threatened the home net though they did get close when Deon Meikle fired wide on 80 minutes. However just one minute later the match was wrapped up when Kevin Banner took the ball down the left, he crossed towards the advancing Nathan Lamey, this was intercepted by Adam Lamb whose attempts to control the ball only made matters worse and he ended up knocking the ball into his own net as goalkeeper Ian Deakin looked on helpless. It was the same player who stated the scoring last Saturday so you have to feel a little sorry for him as over the two games he did not play too badly.

For the remaining nine minutes the home side kept most players in their own half an soaked up whatever The Badgers threw at them, but unlike the previous match Rovers' defence were not so generous.

So it's off to Ilkeston just over the border into Derbyshire a week on Saturday. No doubt Eastwood would have liked a local derby and to be fair they looked too good to go out of the Cup at this stage.

Rovers (3-5-2): 1 Chris Taylor, 2 James Smith, 3 Joe Williams, 4 Chris McHale,
5 Carl Heeley, 6 Wayne Dyer, 7 Daire Doyle (Stuart Skidmore  78 mins), 8 Mark Taylor (capt) (Liam McDonald 70 mins), 9 Neil Davis, 10 Richard Burgess (Nathan Lamey 63 mins),
11 Kevin Banner
Subs not used: 14 Paul Lloyd, 15 Paul Carty

Eastwood Town (4-4-2): 1 Ian Deakin, 2 Niall McNamara (Simon Ellison 85 mins),
3 Chris Shaw, 4 Ian Wheat (Lindon Meikle 74 mins), 5 Matt McKenzie, 6 Gary Breach,
7 Adam Lamb, 8 Paul Mitchell, 9 Peter Knox (capt), 10 Adam Kerley, 11 Deon Meikle (Colin Daniel 90 mins)
Subs not used: 15 Frazer Grant, 16 Paul Stanhope (G/K)

Scorers:          Rovers - Williams 60 mins, Own Goal 81 mins

Attendance:             221
Referee:             Mr A Morbin (Sheffield)

Baker's MoM for Rovers: Joe Williams