Russell Athletic or Nailsea Vets 50s vs Chew Magna 50s

Match Reports

Chew win on penalties

Firstly thanks to Mark Forbes for stepping in to ref at the last minute as the official referee had to pull out due to a positive Covid test this morning.

It was good to be playing familiar faces at Chew again in this cup quarter final. Our games back in the 45’s were always competitive and closely fought and this was no exception.

Nailsea were very slow to start and Chew had most of the possession in the first 20 minutes. Despite this they didn’t threaten the Nailsea goal too much until a wayward pass at the back gifted Chew the opener as they slotted into an empty net to go 1-0 up.

Nailsea started to get into their stride and levelled on half an hour as Matt fell onto a rebound from a shot from Mark Wright but 10 minutes later Chew took the lead again as the ball fell to an unmarked player 6 yards out after an aerial challenge. 2-1 at half time.

Nailsea were livelier in the second half and managed to peg Chew back in their own half for long periods and thought they’d levelled after 65 minutes but the linesman flagged for a tight offside call. Eventually the scores were level when Lee C converted a penalty awarded for handball against a Chew defender. Within a minute Chew took the lead again to make it 2-3 as Nailsea were caught flat footed at the back.

As time was ticking towards the 90 minutes it looked as though it was going to be a Chew victory until with seconds remaining Nelly collected the ball about 25 yards out in the centre of the pitch and scored the goal of the game as he fired a sweet dipping shot over the Chew keeper, rippling the net just under the cross bar. It was certainly a deserved equalizer on the balance of play and took the game to penalties.

Despite a valiant comeback Nailsea couldn’t match Chews excellent spot kicks (4-2 on pens) so we wish them well as they advance to the semis.

Nailsea’s report sums up the match very well. Thanks to them and Mark for stepping in and doing a great job of refereeing the game. Chew started well knocking the ball around well, and then after the first twenty minutes the game ebbed to and fro as both teams had spells on top. John Palmer netted a brace for Chew in the first half and the Richie Smith looked like he had nabbed the winner with a composed finish before the dramatic equaliser in the late minute. But Chew remained composed and two great saves from Baz and then 4 well taken penalties from Ian, Bert, Andy and Mark S saw us over the line. Always great to play Nailsea, close games and they a a good bunch of guys.