Coleman and Eyre on mark as Sports book their place

Sports had to work hard to secure a 2-0 victory over Newent in Saturday’s Bluefin Supplementary Challenge Cup tie and can expect another tough encounter in this weekend’s UHLSport Hellenic League clash in Gloucestershire.

An early goal from Joe Coleman and another midway through the second half from Joe Eyre put Sports through to the third round where they will entertain Langley from Division One East.

It was a keenly contested tie for the full 90 minutes at Addison Road.

Sports took an early lead after a good start when Eyre drifted out wide and after being played through and he crossed to the far post for Coleman to slide in for a tap-in. But Coleman injured himself sliding into the post and had to come off.

Sports looked a threat from set-pieces and there were further efforts on goal and headers just over the bar. Newent were certainly not out of the game and the returning Adam Rimmer made two excellent one-on-one saves at crucial times to maintain Sports’ narrow lead into the break.

Sports started the second half brighter than the first and soon doubled their advantage. A well worked move saw Convey slipped a neat pass inside the full-back for Eyre to run on to and he finished well striking across the keeper into the far corner.

Convey continued to influence the game with his range of passing and Craig Robinson provided a physical presence up front allowing Eyre and Henry Rose more freedom to play on the second balls and knock downs from the target man. Eyre continued to exploit the space in behind the full-back for the rest of the half and cut back a number of his trade mark balls but incoming players could not make the right contact.