Coventry Copsewood 2 Heath Town Rangers 1

Saturday 2nd October 2010
Coventry Copsewood 2 Heath Town Rangers 1
FA Carlsberg Vase First Round
At: Allard Way
Kick-off: 3-00 pm
Admission: £3; Programme: £1 (24 pages)
Attendance: 21
Weather: Sunny spells
Duration: first-half: 46:02; second-half: 51:10

It was very pleasant to wake up to the relaxing tones of Iain Carter, John Murray and the rest of the 5Live commentary team down at the Ryder Cup and then watch the action on Sky Sports. Outside, the weather forecast had proved accurate as yesterday’s heavy rain had been replaced by far more palatable sunny spells.

With a long daytrip to Devon on Thursday for hospital visiting (to follow-up last Sunday’s equally long trip), I didn’t fancy travelling too far today. One fixture that leapt off the page was the FA Vase tie between imoSports Midland Combination Premier Division side Coventry Copsewood and Heath Town Rangers who play in the West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division. Despite being within an hour’s drive of home, Copsewood’s Allard Way ground had remained one of two ‘Mid Comb Prem’ grounds I’d not previously visited, until today that is.

The respective league tables suggested nothing other than a routine and straightforward victory for the home side who went into the game in seventh position in the Combination table with 13 points from eight games. On the other hand, Heath Town Rangers propped up their divisional table with one win and three points from their opening 13 league games.

However, the league tables on their own didn’t provide the full picture. Copsewood picked up ten of their 13 points from their first four games which earned then the honour of ‘Premier Division Team of the Month for August’. Since then in September, they picked one league victory in four games and crashed out of the Telegraph Cup at Bedworth Ex-Service but they did beat Dudley Town in a replay to earn today’s tie. One supporter, to whom I was introduced by the Secretary David Wilson, told me that discipline had been a problem for Copsewood with no fewer than five red cards already this season.

I also got chatting to a Heath Town Rangers club official who told me that, despite losing all but one league game, the team were playing a lot better than results suggested. They were on a run of eight straight defeats since picking up their solitary league points with a 3-2 win at Stafford Town and got through to the FA Vase First Round courtesy of a bye in the previous round.

Perhaps, after all, this tie would be a lot closer that I initially thought.

Like Wolverhampton Casuals, Coventry Copsewood have undergone several changes of name over the years. The club was originally formed in 1922 by employees of Peel Connor, and was known as the ‘Connor’. They played in the Coventry District League and became were renamed ‘Magnet FC’ following an amalgamation with Magnito Ltd. They continued playing under this name until 1934 when they changed again to ‘GEC (Cov) FC’, which stuck for longer, lasting until the 1970s when they became ‘GPT (Coventry) FC’. A further name change in 1999 resulted in ‘Marconi (Coventry) FC’, and then when Marconi sold off their land, the present name of ‘Coventry Copsewood FC’ was adopted.

Arriving just before 2 pm, It quickly became evident that the Allard Way complex caters for a lot more than football. Games of netball and bowls were well underway along with a Coventry Alliance fixture on one of several football pitches within the complex. The local model railway society was in full swing as well. At the heart was a large two story social club with a balcony and I spotted a commemorative stone inscribed with ‘The stone was laid by Mrs M. J. Railing, September 1938’. As for the ground itself, it is three sided because of cricket and boasts a stand containing around 83 seats as well as additional covered standing behind the goal at the northern end.

Heath Town Rangers (wearing red shirts with black sleeves, black shorts and red socks) got the underway attacking the northern end in the first half.

Copsewood created plenty of chances without seriously testing Rangers goalkeeper David Hudson. Then, in the 29th minute, the visitors took the lead against the run of play. Mark Habbershaw, a strong forward, muscled his way past a defender and slotted the ball home at close range into the bottom right corner. Before the interval, Hudson tipped a dipping 25-yard shot from Ross Wimbush onto the bar and over for a corner.

The home side, having made a double substitution at half-time, failed to make a breakthrough during the opening 19 or so minutes of the second half – Ryan Fivey glanced a header wide – before a substitution prompted a change of formation: “Curtis down the middle, Calvin left, Scott to the right,” as well as a request for more urgency.

The changes did the trick as Copsewood soon equalised in the 66th minute. Tim Partridge crossed into the area from the left and Tom Murphy volleyed home at close range.

Even though the home side were in the ascendency, Rangers would have regained the lead had it not been for a great bock by goalkeeper Scott Furlong to keep out Habbershaw’s shot.

Copsewood scored what proved to be the winner in the 85th minute. Partridge got to the right bye-line and pulled the ball back for Curtis Jackson to hammer home first-time at close range.

Heath Town finished with ten men as Steven Lewis picked up two yellow cards within 25 seconds deep into stoppage rime.

Coventry Copsewood (blue/blue/blue): 1. Scott Furlong (capt), 2. Richard Elliott, 3. Ryan Fivey, 4. Gary Mead, 5. Inderpaul Khela, 6. Tom Murphy, 7. Tim Partridge, 8. Daniel Long, 9. Petajon Gordon, 10. Calvin Thompson, 11. Ross Wimbush. Subs: 12. Ross Perkins (for Gordon, ht), 14. Curtis Jackson (for Fivey, 64), 15. Joe Holcroft (not used), 16. Scott Easterhoa (for Long, ht).

Heath Town Rangers: 1. David Hudson, 2. Nathan Cain, 3. Ryan Jones, 4. Darren Williams (capt), 5. Leon Miles, 6. Raymond Facey, 7. Ashley Dicken, 8. Steven Lewis, 9. James McKerdy, 10. Mark Habbershaw, 11. Phillip McKerdy. Subs: 12. Aston McInnis (for Dicken, 78), 14. Curtis Simpson (for Jones, 88), 15. Daniel Watson (for Phillip McKerdy, 75), 16. Andrew Hopson (not used), 17. Michael Forrester (not used). Mgr: Mark Hopson.

Referee: D. Bullen (Leicester).
Assistants: M. Barker (Shepshed) and G. Bourne (Syston).

Goals:
0-1 Mark Habbershaw (28)
1-1 Tom Murphy (66)
2-1 Curtis Jackson (85)

Cards:
Copsewood: none
Heath Town: James McKerdy (YC, 73)Steven Lewis (YC, 90+6), Steven Lewis (YC/RC, 90+6)