Sholing 1 Bristol Manor Farm 0 (Tue 4 th Feb)
Some people say you make your own luck, in football as in life, but the old
saying ‘If it wasn’t for bad luck we’d have no luck at all’ was never truer than it
was for Manor Farm on our long-haul midweek visit to Sholing. After twice
hitting the woodwork and totally dominating the second half, The Portwaymen
sadly left the South Coast with nothing after another impressive team display on
the road. A powerful strike from 25 yards out by Sholing midfielder James
Lauder on 37 minutes was certainly a good enough goal to win any game (even
though Lloyd Mills was clearly fouled in the build-up) but this was a night
when the footballing gods deserted the Farm en masse.
A Lewis Leigh-Gilchrist free kick three minutes later rapped back off the post
to ensure an open, highly entertaining first half ended with the home side in
front.
Sholing barely had a sniff of a chance in the second half, in which the visitors,
strong from back to front, did everything but put the ball in the back of the net.
Despite outstanding performances by Elis Watts, Jay Adams, Kinger, Griff and
Mets, an equaliser seemed almost pre-destined not to arrive. Iain Harvey came
closest on the hour when he poked a Stuart Tovey header goalwards only to see
the ball clip the top of the crossbar. If Manor Farm can replicate the general
dominance of their approach play from now to the end of the season then surely
– surely!? – the goals and points will follow.