Woke up feeling a bit achy-painy and debated with myself whether it was a good idea to go to a game and get frozen... I made the effort, but asked Kev if he wouldn't mind driving -- he'd been moving furniture for his daughter all morning and was a bit knackered, but he said ok...... thanks Buddy...
With Forest at home with £10 admission, and Eastwood dragging support from all over the County, there was never going to be a huge gate at Stoke Lane - but just 73 in attendance is poor -- especially as Carlton are top of their League at the moment. Mind you, it wasn't helped by the away support that numbered only 5 or 6.......
First surprise of the afternoon was finding out that Jay Smedley had joined the Millers on loan from Hucknall Town. I have seen Jay quite a lot recently -- he has been part of the team of electricians upgrading the wiring in our offices..
It was a bit chilly down at Stoke Lane -- one of those days that sees fluids escape from every facial orifice !!
Ex-Mansfield Town star Wayne Corden was on the bench for Leek - Wayne was part of a superb Stags midfield that included Liam Lawrence ( now Stoke City), Leroy Williamson ( now Watford) and Craig Disley ( now Bristol Rovers).....what a midfield that was Lawrence, Disley, Williamson, Corden.....brilliant!!
I didn't take many notes - it was far too cold to keep removing my gloves. What a game this turned out to be and our average goals per game was reached by half-time!
Leek's game plan was overtly obvious right from the get-go.... offside trap, after offside trap after offside trap... ok if you're good at it - but Leek aren't. Stepping up and raising your arm may work sometimes, but not all the time and this was the away teams downfall -- and when they got it wrong who's fault was it? Yep, the poor Assistant Referees...they got some right old stick from the Leek defenders, but they did get most offside decisions right...
Carlton opened the scoring on 13, Dean Gent running at Matt Cooper in the Leek net before slotting the ball between him and his near post.
Leek levelled in the 26th minute - new boy Smedley's defensive header flew up in the air and was volleyed home by Andrew Bourne. Then two goals in two minutes ensured that the visitors were on the receiving end of a tirade of abuse form their managment at half-time... blimey, the eff word was a bit over-used I can tell you.....
On 36, Steve Chaplin won a header and the ball fell straight to Danny Blair who volleyed powerfully home from 12 yards. Then, with the defenders still complaining to the Ref about everything and nothing, Chaplin fired past Cooper after being put through by Gent. H-T 3-1
Second surprise of the afternoon was when Evening Post Brian came walking up to us with pie, peas and gravy in each hand - one each for me and Kev....... this man takes some stick of both of us, but what he doesn't know about the local non-league game isn't worth knowing. And the grub was most welcome ... He had also secured me a copy of the team sheet earlier - a good job because I never heard the P.A. system announce the team line-ups.
As I mentioned previously, we had a tab-hole at the Leek changing rooms during the break -- wow ..the paint may need retouching in there after that "hair dryer" treatment the players received....effin ell, effin this, effin that, effin 3-1 effin down... eff , eff, eff, eff, eff.
Carlton looked comfortable for the first half hour or so of the second period, but they conceded a penalty on 79 which Ashley Miller duly converted and the nerves started jangling a little. However, the nervous spell didn't last too long because Carlton netted again in the 81st minute. Sub Steve Cox received the ball and laid it to Gent who curled a beauty past the despairing dive of keeper Cooper.
Right on fulltime, Gent made it 5-2, striking a stunning 25 yarder past Cooper. What a goal and what a hat-trick! Wayne Corden was noted for his sweet left-peg and he must have been secretly applauding Gent's display of left foot striking....
Chaplin fired in off the post in the third minute of stoppage time to make the final score 6-2.
Admission £6
Programme £1.50
Pie/peas/gravy - courtesy Evening Post Brian
Attendance 73
Getting to the car, it transpired that the Florists had won, and goals from Eastwood Town's Lindon Meikle and Peter Knox had dumped Wycombe out of the Cup.... all we had to do now was thaw out a little and have a little celebratory Grouse or two....
Tuesday -- Clipstone W v Ollerton Town ...
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