Stroud visited the league leaders with a depleted team due to suspensions and injuries and fielded a very young team with debuts for two 16 year olds. Despite this, Strou dplayed some lovely football and dominated possession in the first half. Brockworth's keeper was outstanding, making 3 point blank remarkable saves that kept Brockworth in the game. Two of these were from the head of Dave Cleal, one of which was a carbon copy of the Pele/Gordon Banks save and th eother from a Fred Humphries shot, somehow the keeper tipping the ball over the ball. Against the run of play, broke down the right flank and due to a lack of ocncentration, put the ball into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. The second half was a more even affair, as Stroud's youngsters got tired and Brockworth used more of their strength to force the play. Stroud had to make several changes due to injuries as some of the tackles were unsavoury to say the least with little protection being offered by the official. Stroud keeper Nick Shepherd made 2 good saves to keep Stroud in the hunt, while at the other end,, a few attempts went missing as they did not hit the target. It was a hard fought encounter and for such a young team to play the league leaders in this manner, was admirable. Star player was Fred Humphries who wasa constant thorn in the side for Brockworth |
