Poole Borough Football Club
Season 2003/04

THE SEASON

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Shaun Clarke
Faltless display on his
return to the back line

Conditions

Dry and overcast. Playing surface held up well.

Borough Colours

Gold & Black Shirts, Black Shorts, Black Socks

Borough Scorers: James Edwards 44, 90 (pen)
Borough Man of the Match: Shaun Clarke

With both sides likely to be fighting it out between them for the final place in this seasons top six, a goal at the end of each half saw Borough secure a crucial double.

The teams were evenly matched and although Borough started the stronger, Sherborne top scorer Aaron Lomax had the first clear chance as he steered a right wing cross narrowly wide. Alan Fooks then came close for Borough with a quick turn and shot, which Darren Wakely in the visitor's goal got down well to stop.

On 24 minutes Sherborne beat the Borough offside trap but with only Adam Nash to beat the resulting shot was off target. The visitors created further chances with Borough battling hard at times to clear and Nash did well to block a Lomax shot by his right hand post and was again called upon minutes later to clear under pressure.

However it was Borough who opened the scoring after a visiting defender failed to cut out a low left wing cross from Matt Bircumshaw and James Edwards latched onto the loose ball to convert.

Half Time 1-0

Only two minutes after the restart Borough had a penalty appeal turned down when Gary Fooks appeared to be impeded but Sherborne created the majority of pressure from that point as they looked for a way back. However the Hornets back line defended resolutely to break down the visitor's attacks and as the half progressed Borough were able to create further chances of their own.

On 73 minutes Edwards latched onto a forward pass in the area but shot at the keeper and Kieran Campbell was also denied by a fingertip save from Wakely after making space for himself in a packed area to get a shot in.

With the referee playing eight minutes of injury time Sherborne piled forward looking for the breakthrough, and Nash made a superb reaction stop to deny a visiting forward with his legs.

Sherborne's forays forward however were leaving gaps at the back and Alan Fooks broke clear after latching onto a long clearance only to be brought down by Wakely in the area, and after the keeper was shown the red card, Edwards stepped up to rifle the spot kick past the stand-in and claim all three points.

Borough: Adam Nash, Dan Cockwell (Danny Young 90), Tony White, Scott Orchard, Shaun Clarke, Gary Fooks, James Edwards, Alex Gunn, Steve Russell, Alan Fooks, Matt Bircumshaw (Kieran Campbell 69 (Martin White 90)).

Managers Comments ..............................

Borough boss Tony White said: "We deserved the win but it was a very close game. We said a few hard words in training last week and to be fair the boys have reacted superbly. If they continue to apply themselves like they did on Saturday and put the same effort in then we are going to be a very difficult side to beat."

Sherborne manager Martyn Starnes said: "All they were interested in was stopping us playing and to be fair it worked. It was a very scrappy game and it was stop-start all the time. Neither side could get any fluency going."