On a windy Sunday afternoon at Coleshill Town FC the 58+ side played their opening (and, hopefully, not their last) match of the Birmingham County Winter League against an injury depleted Rushall WFC.
Birmingham dominated the game from start to finish but struggled to get clear opportunities against a well marshalled Rushall defence, a particularly good goalkeeper, and many minor infringements. Debutant David Wright saw a fierce drive hit the post and Mark Evans was brilliantly denied when 1 on 1 with the keeper and also saw his penalty, awarded after a Rushall defender stepped into the area, disallowed for a 'shimmy' in the shooting movement. The first ending at 0-0. The second half saw the Birmingham domination continue from the opening kick-off, but good chances were still at a premium. As often happens when teams are so on top, defensive concentration lapsed and only some last ditch defending denied a Rushall midfielder a clean shot on goal. Almost immediately Birmingham attacked, a fine passing move ending with Clive Macey unmarked on the left-hand side of the area and after a fine dummy he fired the ball into the corner of the net. The game ebbed and flowed for a while as Rushall gave their all but it was Birmingham who should have added to their goal tally in the final 10 minutes, some good saves, wayward shooting and good defensive work denying them any extra reward. FINAL SCORE 1-0 Team: Les Dawson; Martin Barber, Roger Purchase, Peter Giddings, Roy Williams, Mark Evans, John Sparkes, Dave Whatmore, Clive Macey, David Wright.
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