LYMINGTON & NEW MILTON F.C.

Match Report 2000/2001 Tough going, but Tuffley are beaten Saturday 21st October 2000 : F.A. Carlsberg Vase First Round Tuffley Rovers 0, Lymington & New Milton 2

A year ago, the Linnets won an F.A. Cup replay 5-0, against the same Hellenic League opponents on this same Gloucestershire ground; and they pressed the home side from the start of this match. However, despite sound defensive work and making good use of ball possession, Lymington & New Milton did not create many clear cut chances in the opening period, being let down by final passes that went astray or efforts on goal being misdirected.

Indeed the first opportunity of the game fell to the Linnets in the opening minutes, but Town shot high and wide and this set the pattern for much of their play for the first half. The easiest chance fell to the home team when they beat a static Linnets defence but Kearn was quickly off his line to save the situation. With midfield exchanges fairly even and both defences playing well this period was littered by free-kicks and both sides showed signs of frustration. During this time Sims picked up an injury and had to be replaced by Rideout but much worse for Tuffley was the fact that Roberts contrived to collect two yellow cards for trivial offences and was consequently sent off. This gave Lymington & New Milton the advantage and most of the remainder of the half was spent with the home side resolutely defending their attacks, culminating in an almighty scramble in the home goal right on half-time, which brought penalty appeals from the visitors but to no avail.

Half-Time : Tuffley 0, L.&N.M. 0

The second half was very much a repeat of the closing stages of the first with the visitors finding the extra man very much to their advantage and generally dominating play. However, largely due to some desperate defending, they could not achieve the breakthrough and as the game wore on the lack of success in front of goal brought increasing signs of frustration from the Linnets.

Then, with less than fifteen minutes to play, another scramble in front of the Tuffley goal saw a shot hit their crossbar only to be turned back into the goal where it was cleared off the line before Leigh Phillips finally put the ball in the net from extreme close range. With time ebbing away, Gonzales and Glenister came on in place of Rideout and Town to bolster the Linnets against a threatened response from the home side but with 90 minutes on the clock, a good move was crowned by Leigh Phillips who swivelled to create space before placing a right foot shot just inside post. Thus a hard fought victory earned the Linnets a second round tie at home to Bridgwater Town who, coincidentally and perhaps as a good omen, they also defeated 5-0 away in last season's F.A. Cup run.

Lymington & New Milton : Kearn, Gazzard, Kemp, Morris, Mottashed, Sheppard, Smith, Sims, Town, L. Phillips, Strong,  subs : Gonzales, Glenister, Rideout, Stride.

Match reports on this site are based on those appearing in the New Milton Advertiser & Lymington Times (except where separately credited) with additional material from my own resources where relevant.