Brislington's Crumb has a field day against Avon
BRISLINGTON Under-13s overcame lower-league opponents Avon Athletic in dramatic fashion as they clinched victory late on to reach the quarter finals of the cup, thanks in no small part to a powerful display from star man Samuel Crumb.
The game started slowly with neither team managing to hold on to the ball for decent periods of time, the only shot of note in the first 20 minutes coming from Avon's Reece Martin, who sliced his effort just wide of the near post.
The first save of the game came when the Avon defence let a cross bounce deep inside their box, allowing Jake Pullinger to turn and shoot goalwards from close range.
However, Avon keeper Lewis Brodie managed to get just enough on the ball to turn it wide at the near post.
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Avon began to get on top, using the slope to their advantage as both Martin and Liam Matthews had chances in quick succession for the hosts before Jardell Hartley-Keeling beat the keeper ten minutes before the break, albeit to no avail.
The speedy striker showed great pace as he latched on to a long punt upfield and drove into the box from the right corner, going round one defender on to his weaker foot before darting inside and curling the ball delightfully over Max Backwell's head. Unfortunately for Avon, the ball thumped the bar and bounced away to safety.
So the half-time whistle blew with the score still locked at 0-0. While the home side had been on top, most of their attacks had been thwarted by the brilliant defending of Crumb, who had won challenge after challenge.
It was a different Brislington side who came shooting out of the blocks in the second half, as three minutes in a lovely cross from Crumb found William Thomas, whose superb header flew beyond Brodie but struck a post.
A minute later, Crumb came close himself as he battled brilliantly to hold on to the ball against three defenders in the Avon box.
However, his left-footed hooked shot on the swivel skimmed just wide of the far post with Brodie beaten.
Despite Brislington's early dominance, Avon exploited the high line of their opponents 13 minutes into the half and Zach Ellaway released Hartley-Keeling, who darted in between the two centre-backs and found himself one-on-one with Backwell. But the striker's fierce shot was tipped brilliantly over the bar by the Brislington keeper.
With 15 minutes left to play, Avon came within millimetres of scoring again. Hartley-Keeling picked the ball up on the halfway line and steamed down the left wing, carrying the ball all the way into the box where he cut in and fired it beyond Backwell.
Yet again the striker was denied by the woodwork as the ball clipped the post before spinning behind for a goal kick.
Brislington responded to the threat and with minutes to go they made their opponents pay for not converting their chances. Jonah Ache's superb disguised through ball sent Devon Walsh charging towards the by-line, where he drilled it back across goal, past all the backtracking Avon defenders and right into the path of Crumb, who hammered it into the net to give Brislington a late 1-0 lead.
Despite their best efforts, Avon didn't manage to muster another decent chance in the closing stages as Brislington defended valiantly, and a minute from time Josh Keen put the game to bed when his fantastic 25-yard free-kick curled up over the wall and snuck in under the bar to double the visitors' lead.
Brislington just about deserved the victory as they dominated the second half, while Avon only had themselves to blame as they had plenty of good opportunities to score and unfortunately squandered them all.
Avon Athletic: Lewis Brodie, Ollie Muxworthy, Zach Ellaway, Hayden Radford, Robbie Warden, Alfie Brewis, Liam Matthews, Ben Sweetman, Jardell Hartley-Keeling, Reece Martin, Luke Booy, Marcus Mullin, Myles Satterwaite Brislington Juniors: Max Backwell, Lewis Saunders, Ben Thomas, Jake Pullinger, Josh Keen, Will Osborne, William Thomas, Devon Walsh, Samual Crumb, Sam Atkinson, Aaron Brewer, Milo Ayres, Jonah Ache
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