Three And Easy As FC Box Retain The Knockout Cup

It was rivalries renewed at Hardenhuish Park, the home of Chippenham Town FC in the Knockout Cup Sponsored by Cinch Self Storage as a repeat of last years final was on the cards but this seasons final played out a little bit differently than last years as FC Box retained the cup in slightly more comfortable fashion against AFC Melksham to claim a Division 1 League & Cup Double.

However, Box’s pre-match preparations were in somewhat of disarray when 3 of their players, Jon Bazley, Corey Harbour-Burgess & Spencer Dymond-Hall were not back in time from their holiday due to a flight delay albeit, their names were on the team sheet as substitutes and at 14:00, the game kicked off as scheduled without them on the field.

Both sides actually carved themselves an opening straight from the kick off which was hopefully an early indication of what we could expect for the 90 minutes ahead. The first was for Melksham as the ball broke free to DJ Wheeler whose effort from outside of the area did not trouble Liam Harris but it was an early opening nonetheless.

Then it was Box who went up the other end and after some fine work down the right from Liam Ralph, the ball found its way to Adam Mitchell inside the box but he is fierce drive was blocked.

Melksham were trying to take control of the early stages and just a few moments later some good work in the midfield by Jordan Kirk saw the ball make its way to Wheeler just inside the box but his half volley was sliced right to the head of Ross Lye, filling in centre back who cleared only as far Rhys Talmash who fed the ball back to Wheeler but he fired wide of the target.

Shortly after, another foray into the area from Wheeler looked likely to end in a certain goal but a powerful strike was blocked superbly by Toby Gingell.

The next key moment saw Box win a free kick down the left hand side and Dan King was given the opportunity to put the ball in the Box and although his left footed delivery did not end up where initially intended, the cross nearly caught Melksham goalkeeper Jack Cross of guard but it did just sail over the crossbar.

From the resulting goal kick, Melksham trying to play out were unsuccessful and they lost the ball midway into their half and it was picked up by Ben Wickens. Wickens managed to twist & turn his way past a couple of challenges but his shot from the edge was unfortunately a little tame and straight at Cross.

With both teams seemingly realising the threat posed by one another, there was a short period of passes going astray and the challenges were beginning to come in quite strong from both teams however that was broken up by the best move of the match.

Liam Ralph went on a marauding run down the right hands side and was shown into the corner by the Melksham defender. Ralph then got the ball Wickens who cut inside and spread the play out the left hand side where the ball was picked up by Andy Wilkins. Wilkins took 1 touch to bring it under control and put the ball in low where Dan King was quickest to react and his little back heel flick on the pirouette rolled into the bottom right hand corner for 0-1.

The goal certainly galvanised Box and it was Ralph again in the think of the action again down that right hand side and this time his cross was too close to the goalkeeper who gathered at the second attempt.

Melksham though were clearly finding proceedings a little frustrating and this was compounded when referee Mark Sammut sent Rhys Talmash to the sin bin for voicing his displeasure at some of his decisions and Melksham would play the next 10 minutes a man down.

With about 30 minutes on the clock Box nearly took advantage of the player disparity when down the left hand side, Matty Ralph headed the ball clear and it was picked up by Adrian Webb in the midfield. Webb was not closed down sufficiently and was allowed to bring the ball forward and although the ball was still bouncing Webb unleashed a vicious half volley with his weaker left foot which thundered off of the angle to gasps from the 210 strong crowd who would have raised the roof had they seen that nestle in the top corner but as it was the score remained 0-1.

Talmash re-entered the fray and with Melksham back up to full strength they got themselves in a promising position when the broke free to DJ Wheeler once again and he felt he was unfairly upended by Matty Ralph but those cries for a penalty were vehemently waved away by Sammut.

This was followed by another chance that fell Wheeler’s way when a long ball into the penalty area was only half headed clear by Ross Lye and Wheeler decided to take aim with an opportunist effort from the best part of 35 yards and this was the closest Melksham had come to an equaliser as it whistled just passed the post.

The first official card of the match was given to Jack Baker of Melksham after he was punished for an extremely late challenge on Webb, Box took the resulting free kick short down the right when more good work from Liam Ralph and the goal scorer King who found the pass to Wickens before another foul was given away by Melksham. This Kick was wasted as King got far to much on the delivery and it sailed out for a goal kick.

Box were defending superbly and Melksham were really being limited to long range shots for much of the 1st half and they had another chance to test the keeper with a free kick in a promising position 25 yards out after a foul on Wheeler.

After some deliberation between a few players it was Wheeler who was permitted the honours but his side footed effort was poor and did not beat the wall and to make matters worse it was Wheeler who got to the rebound but put his effort well wide.

Despite not being as clinical as normal and certainly as he would like to be, Wheeler looked like he would be the man to get Melksham back in the game and it was his good link up play that saw him spread the play out to the Sam Townsend and he produced their first real shot on target but it was straight at Harris in the Box goal.

There was still time for Cross in the Melksham goal to make a couple of saves to keep his side in the match, the first from Adam Mitchell who picked up the ball from a throw in and his shot was smartly saved to his right and then Cross also denied Wickens who broke free and fired to the bottom left corner.

A couple more corners followed but nothing of note until the whistle was sounded for halftime.

Melksham came out in the second half knowing that they needed to up their game and they set out to do that from the off with Sam Tallis starting a run down the left hand side although he did run the ball a bit too far before losing control and giving away a free kick right in the corner.

The best move of the match from a Melksham perspective was then put together as Sam Townsend, on at half time as a substitute interchanged superbly with Wheeler, their 1-2 leading to Townsend an excellent through ball to Wheeler but as with much of the match so far, the shot from Wheeler was straight at Harris.

The intensity continued as it was apparent to most within the ground the importance of the next goal if there was to be one and a foul by the goalscorer King on Talmash not only produced the matches first yellow card but it also gave them another opportunity to test Harris in the Box goal. However, despite a change of tact with the ball being played short to Jack Baker, the move came to nothing as the ball ricocheted off of Baker and out for a goal kick according to the referee.

Box came into the second half when the irrepressible Mitchell whose hold & link up play on the day was excellent all afternoon, won another flick on into the path of Wickens down the right and he found himself pulled back Olly Clarke for a set-piece of their own. Despite the original free kick hitting the wall the ball was quickly recycled to Webb who spread the ball out to the other flank to Corey Harbour-Burgess and he delivered a fantastic ball into the area which unfortunately evaded everyone.

Talmash then picked himself up a needless booking when blocking Gingell from taking a quick free kick. After a brief stop in play nothing came of said free kick and it was Melksham who carved out the next opening through Talmash’s left footed strike but it went harmlessly into Harris’ arms.

Again the match took a bit more of a scrappy turn at this stage as both teams recognised the importance of the next goal but in turn the matches biggest turning point probably came during this period.

A corner won by Melksham was delivered by Talmash but it was another poor corner that did not beat the first man and was cleared. From this clearance the ball made its way over to the left flank and when a good interchange between Wilkins & Wickens ended with Jack Baker flying in with a poorly timed tackle, Mark Sammut saw no other alternative but to show Baker the red card and reduce the losing team to 1 men.

Despite this Melksham actually showed some promise Kirk linking up Paull Gittins and Talmash whose return pass was blocked by Gingell who was proving to be practically impenetrable in the Box defence.

The match was all but rendered over in the 66th minute when Ross Lye won the ball back for Box midway in his own half and threaded a great ball out to the left to Wickens. Wickens still had plenty to do from outside the area but he took on his man and made his way into the area and drove his strike across the keeper and into the bottom right corner for 2-0 and ultimately game, set & match.

Despite this, Melksham to their credit did not buckle despite being a man down and now 2 goals down and they went straight on the attack to try and half the deficit, Talmash playing the ball out wide for Gittins who crossed to try an return the ball and although Talmash did pick the ball up at the back post, Lye was on hand to track back and get the block on his shot.

The man advantage was beginning to show however, Lye who had now been pushed into his natural position in the centre of midfield was showing great vision spraying the ball out with accuracy every time he was getting on the ball and his midfield partner in the middle of the park Webb was counteracting this by putting an all action display with strong challenges winning the ball back when required.

There were still glimpses from Melksham though and they did manage to win another corner and another Kirk delivery was flicked on and it sat up nicely for Zac Hillier to attempt an overhead kick but it flashed over the bar.

There was a seemingly contentious moment for Sammut to deal with when Harris in the Box goal seemed to misjudge the speed of the ball and looked to have picked the ball up when it was still outside of the area. This was a sentiment that Sammut agreed with awarding the free kick, with no further action taken to the relief of Box and the displeasure of those in orange. The resulting free kick was to Jordan Croad whose half volley failed to hit the target.

As the match was heading into the final minutes, the final decisive moment played out Corey Harbour-Burgess found himself free in the box and was brought down by Talmash with a sliding tackle, one which resulted in another red card being received leaving Melksham with 9 men for the rest of the match and after everyone got back to their feet Spencer Dymond-Hall planted the penalty into the bottom right corner to put the game to bed.

A short while after Sammut sounded the whistle for the last time and the Knockout Cup was retained in comfortable fashion by Box.

The presentation party of Andy Stockinger from our cup sponsors Cinch Self Storage, CBFL President & Fixtures Secretary Andy Hillier & CBFL Chair & Discipline Secretary Geoff Thompson handed out the awards. The officiating team of course picking up their mementos and the Man Of The Match award went to the impressive Adrian Webb for an all round excellent display and of course, FC Box picking up the coveted trophy.

REPORTS COURTESY OF KAI FLACK IMAGES FROM CADER ESOOF