Tooting Bow Out of FA Trophy Against Dunstable
- Official TMUFC
- Nov 2, 2016
- 3 min read
Tooting bowed out of this season’s FA Trophy on Saturday afternoon after failing to capitalise on the early dominance and superiority they held over their Southern League Premier Division opponents.
After having most of the possession in the opening quarter of an hour it was Tooting that were looking like the step 3 team rather than Dunstable. The Terrors’ early supremacy paid off as they took the lead with a well-placed shot from Chace O’Neill from about 12 yards out, 18 minutes into the game. However five minutes later the visitors found themselves on level terms having won themselves a free kick a yard or so outside the box, to Tooting’s left. Danny Talbot stepped up to take the kick which was well placed; however it appeared to be misjudged by ‘keeper Matte Pierson who left the ball, perhaps thinking it was going wide, only to see it creep inside his near post. As the half progressed, Dunstable grew in confidence and came more and more into the game although there was no further addition to the score line before the break. There was a change in shape to the Tooting line up at the interval as out and out striker Mike Dixon replaced attacking midfielder Ollie Bennett. Unfortunately Tooting were not able to replicate the start they made to the first half and repeatedly gave up possession both playing out of the back and in midfield. Despite this they still made the odd foray forward although their attacking play seemed to lack the width that it had in the first period. The turning point in the game came during one of these occasional forays forward when after 58 minutes, Chace O’Neill appeared to have been brought down in the Dunstable penalty box however despite a tentative effort from the assistant referee to place his flag across his chest the referee waived play on and whilst the Terrors’ players were questioning the decision, Dunstable broke away quickly and within 30 seconds, Zak Reynolds had put the ball in the back of the Tooting net to give the visitors the lead.
Tooting were now struggling to find a way back into the game and went further behind on 73 minutes when Kelvin Bossman scored Dunstable’s third. At this point it looked an impossible task for Tooting to get back into the game as the chances had dried up and the Terrors were creating very little. That changed in the 79th minute though when Tooting made a double substitution with Taurean Roberts replacing Peter Wedgeworth and Claudio Hoban coming on for Danny Bassett as Tooting switched to 3 at the back and threw everything forward.
Taurean Roberts was soon creating problems for the Dunstable defence down the right hand side and on 83 minutes was brought down wide on the right, close to the bye line. Jordan Wilson took the free kick, whipping it smartly across the six yard box, evading all the Dunstable defenders and was met by Billy Dunn who side footed it past Jack Smith in the visitors goal to reduce the deficit to one. Tooting continued to press forward and a few minutes later a cross from Roberts out on the right was met by a header from Claudio Hoban on the edge of the six yard box but his effort was well saved by Smith low down to his left. Tooting now had up a head steam and continued to come forward in waves, pressing for the equaliser. Deep into stoppage time however, Dunstable broke again with most of the Terrors side committed at the other end of the field and Saul Williams finally made the game safe for the visitors, scoring their 4th of the game.
Credit: Taken from Tooting & Mitcham Utd’s Official Facebook page, Official TMUFC
Photo Copyright of Sam Conquest