Wonder Goal Rescues Point For Cardea

The Ringwood pitch in Bretton was the venue for the match of the weekend as Cardea took on Yaxley British Legion. The game was played in very windy conditions that affected both teams.

Following Yaxley's 5-1 battering of Fenland Police the previous week it was clear that they had made a marked improvement since the first meeting of these two teams last October. This showed in the first half as Yaxley created some really good chances.

Yaxley had the ball in the net after 10 minutes through the league's top goalscorer Lewis Leckie, but he was judged to be offside and the goal didn't stand.

Cardea were struggling to get into the game and Yaxley created two good opportunities in as many minutes. Firstly a header from inside the area was put wide and a minute later Yaxley struck the bar with an effort from 10 yards.

The break through for Yaxley finally came mid way through the first half when the ball was crossed in from the right to Leckie on the edge of the area and Ryan Moore produced a great sliding challenge to take the ball away but the ball deflected back into Leckie's path and he made no mistake with the finish.

It was a deserved lead for Yaxley but Cardea could have been level after 30 minutes when Kynan Bereznyckyj got to the byline and crossed for Yeoman who guided his header just wide of the post with the keeper beaten.

Yaxley continued to press but the Cardea defensive pair of Michael Williams and Tony Harper were managing to thwart any chances for the leagues most potent attack. Half time arrived with the score at 1-0 to Yaxley.

The second half continued in the same manner as the first, however there were glimpses that Cardea were starting to get more involved in the game with Yeoman proving a constant nuisance to the Yaxley midfielders.

Goalkeeper Anton Fountain had to think fast after a looping back pass from substitute Daniel Robinson, the keeper's touch was superb as he controlled the difficult ball and cleared before he could be closed down.

With 20 minutes to go Robinson drew a foul from the Yaxley defender in a dangerous position. The kick was claimed by Yeoman and he struck a beautiful left foot curler into the top corner of the goal to level the scores.

This seemed to rile Yaxley and they took their frustrations out on Yeoman. After Yeoman skipped past midfielder Michael Norris the Yaxley man produced a petulant kick which earned him a straight red from referee Damon Pywell.

The kick incensed the Yaxley manager, also Norris' father, who gave his son a rollicking as he walked off the pitch and they eventually had to be separated by spectators after his Dad started to throttle the Yaxley player!

Yaxley did manage to create a chance despite the man disadvantage when a corner was swung in and met with a volley that struck the underside of the bar and bounced just the right side of the line from a Cardea perspective.

There was more red to come with seven minutes remaining. Yaxley midfielder Alan Hardy was shown a straight red for foul and abusive language to the referee after a decision went against him.

Again the two man disadvantage didn't hinder Yaxley's attacks and they nearly won the game late on when a cross from the left was met with an overhead kick which hit the top of the crossbar and Yeoman had to be alert to head it behind for a corner.

The referee brought an end to the game and after not playing their best Cardea will see this as a point gained against an opposition who will be dangerous in the later part of the season.

Midfielder Aaron Yeoman was the stand out candidate for man of the match but credit must also go to the Cardea defence and goalkeeper for limiting the Yaxley attack, who average over 4 goals a game, to a single goal.

After the game manager Kev Webster said: "We played much better this week than the week before, although we still looked somewhat off the pace first half.

"When we press and attack we look dangerous but that effort is few and far between at this stage of the season. Second half we showed glimpses of our old self and started to get a foot back in the game. However we still have a lot to do to get anywhere near the form we showed at the start of the season.

"It was a good point against a much improved team. A positive we can take from this match is we weren't anywhere near our best but they only scored one goal against us, yet they have been free scoring in previous games."

Cardea's next match is a home game versus Guyhirn at Bushfield on Sunday 2nd of March.