Melbourn 1 Fulbourn Institute Reserves 0 MELBOURN took another Division 1A scalp in this eventful Creake Shield third round tie on Saturday (November 25). Within the first five minutes Gary Norman saw his close range header saved by the Fulbourn keepe

Melbourn 1

Fulbourn Institute Reserves 0

MELBOURN took another Division 1A scalp in this eventful Creake Shield third round tie on Saturday (November 25).

Within the first five minutes Gary Norman saw his close range header saved by the Fulbourn keeper.

The visitors came well prepared and it was not long before they increased their pressure on the home goal.

After 18 minutes, Glenn Pearse came off his line to halt the advancing Fulbourn forward and saved well at his feet to maintain a clean sheet.

However, the recurrence of an ankle injury meant that he was unable to continue and manager Mick Walker donned the gloves.

At the interval Melbourn knew they could get something from this game, and they went close when Ash Bryan found Andy Richardson with a long through ball, but his effort was saved by the keeper.

After an hour Walker was called into action when he failed to gather a low shot but blocked the rebound to ensure his team stayed on level terms.

Melbourn continued pushing forward and a number of attempts to break the deadlock were either saved by the Fulbourn keeper or fired off target.

On 70 minutes, Kris Watters was exchanged for Fergus Lury and a change in formation created three more opportunities for the home side to score.

Fifteen minutes later Walker also found himself injured after being knocked over and twisting an ankle when catching the ball from a corner.

With the game goalless at 90 minutes, it went into extra time and it was not long before the Watters/Richardson partnership bore the inevitable outcome.

Mark Williams found Richardson on the left who raced down the line beating two Fulbourn defenders and crossing for Watters to calmly slot the ball, low and hard into the corner of the net.

Melbourn had 17 minutes left to maintain their pursuit of the Creake Shield and a magnificent demonstration of team determination ensured that 1-0 was enough to see them through to the quarter finals.

Melbourn: G Pearse (M Walker), A Bryan, B Mansfield, A Ogilvie, M Wagstaff, S Marriott, M Williams, F Lury (K Watters), A Richardson, J Gray