Brave Ollerton Narrowly Eliminated in Quarter Final

Report by William Lavelle. Photograph by Lewis Pickersgill Photography.

Ollerton Town's season came to an end as they were narrowly defeated 2-1 by Handsworth Parramore in the quarter finals of the League Cup, despite dominating much of the game against their higher league opposition.
A depleted Ollerton side had started the game off operating with a midfield diamond and looked have settled in well but were pegged back by a deflected strike from Steve Istead in the opening minutes of the game. Istead’s effort from the edge of the box received a noticeable deflection to take the ball over 'keeper Joey McCormack and give Handsworth a fortunate early lead.
The visitors didn’t look to discouraged by the early goal and had the chance to level the game just a minute later. Leading scorer Gav King jinked past his man and fired to the far post where Lewis Bingham was lurking, but the creative midfielder didn’t look to have expected the ball to come to his feet as he couldn’t convert from close range.
The pace of Ollerton’s frontline looked to be causing the Handsworth defence serious problems and King was provided with another chance to pull Ollerton level but couldn’t quite provide the visitors with a deserved goal. King was played through on goal and forced to a tight angle and the home side were let off the hook as his left footed effort struck the outside of the post.
The home side almost doubled their advantage before the half hour mark but Hill saw his headed effort well saved by McCormack. McCormack did well to keep out Hill’s effort but it was made irrelevant just a few minutes later as Courey Grantham was set through on goal, showed the required strength to keep Tom Moody off him before slotting past McCormack from a wide angle.
The visitors were somewhat unlucky to be two goals down given their display but almost went three down as Hill finally had the ball in the back of the net, only for it to be ruled out by the officials. Hill’s looping header had beaten McCormack but was ruled out for a foul throw in during the build up to prevent the game from being out of reach for the visitors.
Ollerton were on the brink of the game being completely beyond them but capitalised on Hill’s disallows goal as King added his 29th of the season to half the deficit on the stroke of half time. Midfielder Sean Dickinson slipped King in and Ollerton’s talisman fired across goal to provide the visitors with a scoreline which more fairly represented their graft in the first half
The Town had struggled to gain a foothold early on the second half but almost levelled the game by the hour mark as King was played through on goal and then cut back inside but his left footed shot was pushed wide of the goal by Handsworth ‘keeper Green.
Ollerton looked to be building pressure on their opponents but the game was interrupted due to a mass brawl in the Handsworth box. Multiple players looked to be involved in the incident which was eventually resolved as the home side receiving just one yellow card.
Ollerton's momentum continued as they again came agonisingly close to levelling the game. Green failed to claim the ball and King poked an effort past the onrushing keeper but just wide of the post.
Despite being 4th in the league above, Handsworth were under some strong pressure from Ollerton but their extra bit of quality perhaps shone through as they were able to see the game out to progress to the semi final away at Liversedge.
In spite of the result of the game, Dave Winter’s men have emerged with immense credit after they pushed a heavily favoured Handsworth to the brink of defeat. The Town have shown what they’re capable of when provided with minimal selection complications in recent weeks and can only be proud of a valiant display which arguably deserved more than a defeat.