Yeovil T 0-2 Manchester Utd; 1501MR02

Tags

FA Cup, Manchester United, Match Reports, MRSeries, Yeovil Town

Seeing the Manchester side flash up during the previous game, the opportunity to see James Wilson play again was tempting. Added that to James Berrett being on the bench for Yeovil, it was on.

So, what happened? A typical blood and thunder cup tie this one; the Glovers were upon the Red Devils from the off, pressing hard and looking to stop them playing as well as they could.

Blood and thunder almost literally in the cases of Kieffer Moore and Paddy McNair whose early clash of heads left both needing bandages.

That Yeovil’s plan succeeded so successfully was perhaps no surprise. He may have struggled this season, but Gary Johnson has not become a bad manager overnight. He has drilled them well and they all knew their rôles. That they were aided by Moore being fit was obvious, though I would have preferred to see Ajay Leitch-Smith.

And so it went on. United stumbling and stuttering while Yeovil dealt with their attack and launched sporadic attacks of their own, though the best chance came to Moore and was scuffed – a precursor to the only moment of real quality all match.

Ander Herrera scoring against Yeovil (Reuters)

A Darren Fletcher ball was deflected into the path of Ander Herrera just outside the box, who stroked a shot at goal like he was stroking a family cat. It followed a similar trajectory before nestling in the back of the net.

That, pretty much, was that. The Red Devils were good enough to suffocate the match from there. They got a late second, Angel Di Maria breaking into so much space that it looked as if he’d missed the bus home and had Somerset to himself. He slotted the ball home and it ended 0-2.

Yeovil had huffed and puffed but eventually Big Bad United blew their house down. No romance here.

Entertainment value? 6.0/10 – more interesting than exciting, but none the worse for it.

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Dover 0-4 Crystal Palace; 1501MR01

Tags

Crystal Palace, Dover Athletic, FA Cup, MR Series

Been a while since I wrote a report, though there’s a few from December still outstanding – hopefully now I’m on a tablet I can be a little more effective.

Sunday is the day before I’m due back at work, so a quiet day in front of the second tranche of 3rd Round ties beckoned and Dover against Crystal Palace was the first offering.

So, what happened? All the pre-game talk was around Alan Pardew, with little more than cursory mentions for Dover and the game that BT Sport were expecting to see.

As it happened, that was probably for the best. Dover, from around half a minute in, were bit part players in their own fairy tale. Everything was going in Palace’s favour. The work rate of the midfield allowed the flair of Zaha the space to perform devilry (would that Bolasie was playing) and the quality of their passing was good enough that the 3-man backline of the hosts looked woefully inept.

Dover switched to a 4 not long in, but were a goal down by then, a Scott Dann volley from a Zaha cross breaking the deadlock.

That was as good as it got, really. The remaining match was Palace building attacks on a pitch that cut up more and more as we went on, and every time they got near the box looked dangerous. High balls, low balls, pressure, breakaways. The Eagles found it easy to demonstrate their range of skills.

Kevin Doyle's late goal at Dover.

Amongst all of that, Rafferty in the Dover goal made a string of very decent saves – a string that started as early as half a minute in.

By contrast, Dover couldn’t get a shot in and never troubled their more illustrious visitors. Not a single attempt over the whole 90 minutes.

When lesser teams play better ones in the cup, a number of things have to go in their favour; and they have to make the best of them – none of them did today for Dover; on top of which they were disappointing and will look back on an opportunity missed against a side who were rightly favourites, but are not impossible to beat.

In the end, it was a stroll in the park; Dwight Gayle got a goal, Kevin Doyle nicked a late one, Wilfried Zaha was a menace and Barry Bannan never stopped. There was no giant killing, just a crushing under Alan Pardew’s boots.

Entertainment value? 4.0; Dover tried, but did nothing. Routine.

Latina 1-2 Bologna; 1410MR13

Tags

Bologna, Italian Football, Latina, MRSeries, Serie B

I hadn’t seen as much of Bologna as I’d have liked this season, so I was delighted to see them here – especially against a Latina side who I’d tried to watch a few times last year, but never quite got to.

So, what happened? Bologna took the lead early, a header from Greek defender (they do like a Greek player, Bologna) Oikonomou from a corner as he stretched almost every single nerve and sinew.

That lead looked likely to disappear towards the end of the half, as Abero pulled down Angelo at the byline, but Crimi’s low penalty saw Coppola do fabulously to get a hand on it and palm it round the post.

Bologna doubled their lead through Zuculini on 43 minutes, a rifled effort from the corner of the box.

The second half was a completely different story, though. Sforzini of Latina grabbed the match by the scruff of the neck, first squirming free with a glorious turn about 25 yards from goal, but failed to get a shot away when he broke into space. A few moments later, he found himself in the same spot but lashed an appalling swipe into the stratosphere.

Bologna were, by this point, trying to slow the game right down to take the sting out of it, but still pushing forward (although they were being particularly compact, there was still a point they’d got 8 men in the Latina half). Eventually, Sforzini got his goal and, rather ironically after all his good work earlier, it came from a chance from Doudou after the youngster’s shot rolled back off the post.

Sbaffo, another substitute flashed a ball across the Bologna box which was rather a warning shot across the bows, as he did exactly the same thing a moment later, which Sforzini headed wide.

Then came the most controversial moment of the game as Doudou saw goal disallowed for reasons that, even after ten or so replays, remained unclear.

That was the last real chance for Latina – save for a couple of comfortably saved last gasp efforts, though Bologna did have a decent chance to extend their lead as Robert Acquafresca found himself through on goal and unleashed a bullet from 20 yards.

It was a shot by Robert Acquafresca, though, so it went over. There was just time for Sbaffo to get sent off after utterly losing his head late in injury time.

Entertainment Value? 8/10