Alfredian Park Thursday, April 21st, 2011   Hellenic Premier Attendance: 183         Wantage Town 2-1 Ardley United
2010 /11

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Wantage Town 2 Ardley United 1 Wantage Take the Title! In a game that both teams had to win to realistically keep their title ambitions alive, Wantage came out of this encounter as Uhlsport Hellenic League Champions after a tense encounter against their nearest rivals, Ardley United. The game started at a frenetic pace, with Wantage setting the pattern by playing good possession football, but it took until the 11th minute for Wantage to make Kurt Fox in the Ardley goal work, when interplay between Belcher, Keen and Tom Malton created an opening which the keeper did well to keep out. In the next minute, another excellent move involving Jones, Keen and Tom Butler was eventually hit narrowly wide by centre forward Keen. After so much good football, Wantage took the lead in rather fortuitous circumstances, as a long clearance by Stuart Cattell was misjudged by the Ardley defence. The high bouncing ball also deceived Kurt Fox in the visitor’s goal, but Tom Butler had taken a gamble and coolly stroked the ball into an empty net to give the home side the lead. With the large crowd celebrating, it seemed that Wantage had taken a giant step to winning the Hellenic league title. However, Ardley had other ideas and almost straight from the kick off, they equalised. From the re-start, the ball was moved quickly to the left wing, where Ryan Brooks found himself in acres of space and after a strong run he put in a cross that evaded the Wantage defence and was nudged in by Troy Bryan from six yards to make the score one all. This setback seemed to spur Wantage on and in the next period of the game they played some of their best football of the night to create several chances. A strong run by Gavin Jones ended with a cross shot rolling just wide and just two minutes later, an overhead kick from Danny Keen fell wide of the Ardley goal. In the 39th minute, some superb one touch football created an opening for Sam Belcher who shot across goal from a tight angle. With Wantage controlling the tempo of the game, Ardley struggled to make headway into the home side’s half and when they did, the defensive formation of Cattell, Rowe and Learoyd forced long range shots from the visitors forwards and generally denied them time and space to play. Several more chances were created and wasted by Wantage, with several headers and shots not finding their target, before an excellent move gave them the lead for the second time. On the stroke of half time, Danny Keen controlled a difficult ball and played in Graham Edney, who was racing towards the byline. His sharp left foot cross was pulled back towards the six yard box and was met at pace and, with a flourish, was despatched into the Ardley net by Gavin Jones to make it 2-1 and take the home side into half time with the slenderest of leads. Half time: Wantage 2 – Ardley United 1 The early part of the second half followed the pattern of the first, with Wantage controlling both possession and the tempo of play. A sharp one two between Tom Butler and Belcher created an opening for the latter to put in a dangerous cross, which was not converted. Over the next 10 minutes, excellent movement and passing created chances for Butler, Jones and Keen. The best of these chances was preceded by patient one touch passing, which put Jones into space in the inside right channel, he thumped in an excellent low cross, but once again, nobody was on hand to take advantage and another superb opportunity was missed. Inevitably, a quality side such as Ardley gradually began to get themselves into the game, and Murray Nicholls had two shots after good build up play from the visitors. As Ardley began to press, Wantage began to play on the break and Danny Keen did well to rob Ben Milner on the left touchline. After leaving the defender in his wake, he headed towards goal, but instead of squaring the ball, shot from a tight angle and hit the side netting. In the 57th minute, Matt Biddle was booked for a seemingly innocuous challenge and this was to came back and haunt him later in the game. In the 60th minute, Ardley created arguably their best chance of the game, when a straight ball down the middle was touched on by Troy Bryan to substitute Gary Wickens, whose shot forced a great save down to his left from Gareth Tucker in the Wantage goal. The ball fell loose in the Wantage area, but an excellent block from Cattell denied the visitors an equaliser. Soon afterwards, another breakaway from Keen created an opening for Tom Malton who arrived in the box to meet the square ball, but he could only sidefoot it wide. In the 68th minute, Niall Hodgkins replaced the tiring Tom Butler and immediately his pace and close control created an opening, which he put high and wide from distance. In the 75th minute, manager Andy Wallbridge introduced Tom Eatwell to bolster the defence. Ardley were beginning to create half chances, with free kicks, corners and high balls into the Wantage penalty area giving the home side some anxious moments. With just 5 minutes to go, Richie Claydon replaced the hardworking Danny Keen and almost immediately, he found himself in the middle of the action. A great run from Hodgkins gave the substitute a chance to put the game beyond doubt, when he pulled back a cross to the edge of the six yard box, where Claydon connected well and drew a fantastic near post save from Fox. On the stroke of full time, a tired challenge from Matt Biddle was punished with a second yellow card and earned him a harsh sending off, with less than a minute to play. When the final whistle blew, the whole of the squad and partisan crowd erupted in celebration to signal the winning of the Uhlsport Hellenic Premier League title for the first time in the club’s long history! This is a tremendous achievement for the players, management and often undervalued committee of this friendly and well run club and the only sadness about this whole episode is that they are being denied the opportunity to test themselves at the higher level of Southern League football due to ground grading. Still, let’s all enjoy the moment and remember what an enjoyable and successful season this has been. Well done and congratulations to everyone involved at Wantage Town Football Club! Next up for Wantage is a semi final tie in the Bluefin Insurance Brokers Challenge Cup away to Ardley on Easter Monday afternoon, with a 3pm kick off. The winners will face Division 1 East champions Holyport in the final. Team: Gareth Tucker, Tom Rowe, Adam Learoyd, Stuart Cattell, Matt Biddle, Tom Malton, Gavin Jones, Sam Belcher, Danny Keen, Graham Edney, Tom Butler. Subs: Scott Dewar, Niall Hodgkins, Josh Cottrell, Richie Claydon, Tom Eatwell Match Stats: Goal Booked Subs MOM 1 Gareth Tucker.................................................................. 2 Tom Rowe........................................................................ 3 Adam Learoyd ................................................................. 4 Stuart Catell..................................................................... 5 Matt Biddle.................................................Booked 57mins. ..Sent off 89 mins 6 Tom Malton (Capt).......................................................... 7 Gavin Jones...........................45 mins.........Booked 45 mins . Replaced by Eatwell 75 mins 8 Sam Belcher..................................................................... 9 Danny Keen.............................................................................Replaced by Claydon 85 mins.. MOM 10 Graham Edney............................................................... 11 Tom Butler.........................15 mins .......Booked 62 mins......Replaced by Hodgkins 68 mins. Subs: 12 Scott Dewar 14Niall Hodgkins 15 Josh Cottrell 16 Tom Eatwell 17 Richie Claydon