Wickhammered!
Ravens 3-1 Wickham Royal Reserves

Ravens met Wickham Royal Reserves in the cup who were placed in the league above us. We were determined to progress so a big performance was called for. The gaffer gambled by putting Kyle Moss in a more attacking role, moving from right back to striker. He repaid the faith put in to him by the manager by harassing the royal’s defenders who needed a gas mask by the end of the game because he refused to let them breath.
We began the game brightly and were well deserved of a 1 goal lead when Kyle Moss flicked the ball against a defenders neatly manicured hand, Ross Evans dispatched of the penalty beautifully placing the ball to the bottom right corner, leaving the keeper with an impossible task. Ravens carried this on for the rest of the half when they were clearly on top; however when a Wickhammer took a tumble thanks to a crunching tackle from determined defender Rob Bentham our sweet sweet can of coke threatened to turn into a lemon smoothy, the offensive midfielder stepped up and it must have been the eyes as Grant Sadler dived high to his left and clawed the ball out of the top corner, top drawer son. The score stayed at 1-0 for the rest of the half.
As has been our downfall this season we again switched off at half time and came out after half time looking as if we felt we were too good to battle like we did in the 1st half. This cost us a goal when the referee refused to pay attention to a raised linesman flag and when Grant Sadler was victim of a 2 footed challenge which the referee also turned a blind eye to and the ball rolled into the unguarded net. This was extremely disappointing as we felt we had completely controlled the game up until this point and to find ourselves level at this point was ghastly.
However after this we began to pick it up again as we started battling again and after a host of missed chances we finally regained the lead when Ollie Patterson picked the ball up deep inside his own half and took on a player, he then came across 2 defenders standing next to each other, they were standing on this trains railway line and he barged through them with ease and ran 50 metres before calmly slotting the ball past the oncoming goalkeeper. This was a hell of a goal to open his account for our summer signing from Plymouth Argyle.
Our lead was doubled when a well weighted through ball from Matt Hennessy put Kyle Moss clear, the keeper spread himself well like he was auditioning for an utterly butterly advert, but Kyle finished the rebound from an almost impossible angle to complete an impressive debut up front.
This result put us through to the next round of the cup and our first step towards Cardiff, a solid performance which needs to be repeated for next weeks game.

Player Ratings
Grant Sadler-8- What a performance from the pint sized stopper, great penalty stop, kicking was fantastic, our saviour on several occasions.
Kevin Brooks-7- Looked comfortable at right back, assured on the deck, could carve himself a career at right back.
Roberto Bentham-8- Immense at the back throwing his body in the way of shots, great tackling and heading.
Omni “studs up” Sambrook-7- Back with a bang, fitted in at the back with Bentham like 2 batteries in a remote control, gave 100%
Liam Dodsley-7- Very good performance back at left back where he had his hands full like Omni down the pub.
Rob Olding-7- Troubled with his pace and put in some good balls.
Tarik Foley-6- Not his finest work but battled hard and chased down like he was chasing a mugger for a handbag.
Matt Hennessy-6- A few good through balls, and got in some good positions for shots which he scuffed superbly.
Ollie Patterson-9- Protected the defence well, passed comfortably and an incredible goal, fitting in nicely.
Kyle Moss-8- A well taken goal, scared the defence with his pace and his headband, almost linked well with Ross Evans on several occasions.
Ross Evans-6- Not the electric player were used to seeing but still linked well with Kyle Moss and a well taken penalty, unlucky not to get a 2nd after having the ball cleared from behind the line which wasn’t spotted by the linesman.
Substitutes
Tim Browne-7- Took over from Tarik Foley at half time, passed intelligently and accurately, played very well defensively.
Jamie Hawthorne-6- Captain for 10 minutes and failed to marshal his troops, got into some good positions,
Mike Packer-6- Worked hard but not on long enough to notch his 1st for the club.

This was a good performance against a team who are somehow in a superior league to us.
Report compiled by Matt Hennessy, based on a true story.