Mullets suffer Senior Cup exit
Tuesday evening this week took me to Arundel as they took on Oakwood in the Sussex Senior Cup 1st round. There was much debate up and down the country as to whether County FA’s would run their own senior competitions this season and it’s been pretty mixed, some are and some have postponed them until next season.
Sussex recently went for it and drew their competition a few weeks ago, only county league sides involved in this round but with the incentive of drawing the likes of Brighton & Hove Albion Under 23’s, Crawley Town, Eastbourne Borough or one of the Pitching In Isthmian League sides in the next round, money spinners for some even if big crowds are not allowed to attend.
On a crisp, but damp evening after early afternoon rain the Mill Road looked in good shape. It looked on arrival that the visitors might have had a delayed journey heading to West Sussex as they seemed to be kit changing at the far end of the pitch although these days with grounds being configured differently due to the covid restrictions that might well have been their changing area for the evening.
Both sides have made poor starts to their campaigns with neither side having registered a league win so far, not surprisingly the opening exchanges were tentative as both sides struggled to find a rhythm on a quick pitch.
It took 26 minutes for the deadlock to be broken, and with Oakwood making most of the early chances it was the visitors who went in front, Aaron Ryder scoring from a corner.
The lead only lasted four minutes, the Mullets Ben Grey equalising with a well taken penalty after that notorious handball law made the call. From that point I was expecting it to give Arundel the confidence to take hold of the game and make Oakwood work to win the game.
But it was the visitors who took the lead again on 36 minutes, a deft finish from Sam Cane past the hosts keeper Lewis Broughton was no more than they deserved and were well in control of the game at the half time interval.
The second half took a little while to come to life, neither really finding enough to test the goalkeepers and the midfield battle looking very even on the whole. The Mullets pulled themselves back into the tie as Grey with a small suspicion of offside got clear to lob the onrushing Greaves for the ball to land perfectly under the bar and level the scores once more.
Mullets had the chance five minutes later when from a corner defender Rob Madden met the ball perfectly but his header hit the outside of the post. It was left to the visitors substitute Oluwaseun Olabiyi to notch the winner ten minutes from time although Madden had a late chance to take the tie to penalties but scouped the ball over from three yards.
Impressive performance from Oakwood’s Arnold Saurombe who gave the Arundel defence problems throughout the game with his direct running and coming in off the left flank with no one sure who was tracking him. The Mullets desperately need an injection of confidence before they find themselves too far behind the top teams in the league, they do have a couple of games in hand but they need to won or mid-table might beckon this season…………