Burton Joyce First 2009/2010
EMPAL, , , Burton Joyce, England

The defence of the Empal Cup continued at home to Arnold Old Boys of the 4^th division who have had very solid start to the 2009/10 season and are well on course for promotion to division 3. Burton Joyce made a couple of changes to the side that got eliminated from the County Cup last week. GK.John, RB.L.Beatty LB.D.Beatty, CB.Art, CB.Skip RM.Chris, LM.Keith, CM.Tim, CM.Smithy, CF.Josh, CF.Ang with Shearer, Meeksy and Tanner on the bench. Unfortunately Rob Mawer wasn’t signed in time to make his first appearance of the season in the 3^rd round tie.

 Right from the first whistle it was apparent that BJ weren’t going it all there own way as Arnold began to get in the faces of Tim and Smithy however they weren’t to be intimidated and few firm challengers were thrown about in the opening confrontations! BJ created all first chances though which all fell to Crofty and unfortunately for him he was having a particularly bad day in front of goal as he probably could have got 5 or 6 had he had his eye in. After Josh had finished putting one on ones over and smashing wide from 4 yards Angelo netted his 7^th of the season calmly drilling home after being put through by Josh. 1:0

 For all BJ’s pressure they still only had a goal lead and Arnold who were not the youngest side in the world managed to use their oldish heads play some decent football putting Art and Skip under a bit of pressure but they manage to deal with it pretty well apart from one snap shot from 10 yards that Johnny got down to well after it had gone through a number of bodies. The ever enthusiastic Art who was making a return from injury saw his desperation to clear the ball get the better of him when the vertically Liam Beatty headed clear a ball and Art just didn’t see him and volleyed him right in the you know what. By far the funniest moment of the game!

 Towards the end of the first half BJ managed to exert some more pressure on the lower league side which lead a concession of corners and 5 minutes before the interval Dan Beatty swung one in towards the back stick that missed everyone and dropped in off the bar, great finish, 2:0 HT  

 The second half started brightly for the home side with Liam Beatty playing some good football from the right back position and picking out Smithy and Tim who were working much better than they had the previous week by getting the ball and finding the 4 attacking players in good positions. However a scramble in the BJ area lead to goal back out of the blue for Arnold which seemed to give BJ the kick up the ars they needed.

 For the next 20 minutes im not sure if Arnold left their own half with Angelo and Keith beginning to get more into the game causing all sorts of problems for the tall Arnold back line. There was still chances falling to Crofty and there really was too many to write about, however you would prefer him getting the chances and missing rather than not getting the chances at all and he gave that strength and presence in the final third that BJ seemed to miss last week. However another perfect corner this time swung in by Chris was guided beyond the keeper by our defensive goal machine Art returning BJ to a two goal advantage. This was soon a three goal advantage when Chris was played in by Sheppo into the channel who crossed to Ang to drill past the keeper. 4:1.

 Burton Joyce in traditional cup fashion allowed Arnold to get back into the game late on firstly with a good finish from one of the tall blokes in their arsenal after Tanner had failed to clear taking too many touches on the edge of his own area to make it 4:2 with 10 to go and then astonishingly Andy Davies in the dying minutes half volleyed home a cross from 8 yards into his own top corner for the second time this season putting him on -2 for goals this season.

 For the second week running a below average performance from BJ and even though Arnold snuck back into it late on you always felt that the home side could step it up. But definitely not the usual domination BJ have over lower league sides and im sure Arnold Old Boys will see a gradual accent up the tables.