ROVERS THROUGH TO NEXT ROUND, BUT AT A COST

Horsley sent from the field in "outlandish incident"

Tunaville Rovers 2 - West Wellow 0

Rovers, showing only one change from the side that had taken care of Chipping Sodbury in the first round with Neville replacing the banned Rev. Steve Mullin, started in very lively fashion, with both Horsley and Dodd on both right and left wing respectively proving very dangerous from the outset.

The history of Horsley's career is obviously very well documented and despite his very poor disciplinary record, there has never been any doubting his phenomenal skill as a footballer.The problem has always been whether such 'god-given' talent can be harnessed and chanelled in the right direction. It was thought that player manager Neil Donaldson had succeeded in this task. It was therefore surely only a matter of time before Tunaville broke the deadlock.

It came in the 16th minute with Lucas brought down heavily just outside the West Wellow box. From the ensuing free-kick Horsley bent the ball viciously round the protecting defensive wall with the outside of his foot, leaving the visiting goal-keeper stranded. It was a goal of the upmost quality, that left one reminded of the Revellino's and Lorimer's of this world. Five minutes later it was Horsley again who picked up the ball from a beautiful through pass from fullback Aslett. He truly flew down the right flank, before cutting inwards to power the ball home. Both the balance and control was truly a sight to behold.

Thus with 20 miutes gone Rovers were coasting. However Horsley was shown a yellow card for his post goal celebrations for making an rude gesture at his opposing fullback. There had certainly been a certain amount of niggle between the two during the game, but the behaviour of the Rover's winger was both childish and unwarranted. As a consequence the game then became more fractious and it was a relief when the half-time whistle went to give all the players time to cool-off.

Unfortunately, the break only seemed to further the antics of certain people, with Horsley in particular running around the field intent on maiming any West Wellow player in sight. As his team mate David Dodd commented afterwards : " For the first ten minutes of the second half we certainly had a 'loose canon' on board."

It was therefore only time before someone was sent from the field and it arrived in the 55th minute when Horsley was fouled by the West Wellow number 8. He duly picked himself up and completely out of the blue threw himself in the air, and kicked his opponent wrestling style in the throat. It was outrageous behaviour and he was duly dismissed from the field.

The game continued in ill-tempered vain, with Rovers content to sit back and protect their precious two goal advantage. Resolute defensive work from Tinker, Mullins and Mckinnie meant that there was no way through for the Wellow attack, apart from one vicious shot in the 83rd minute that was saved by Slaughter by perfoming an overhead bicycle kick along the same lines as the Columbian goalkeeper in a recent international against England.

With the conclusion of the match all talk concerned the incident involving Horsley. Player manager Neil Donaldson blamed himself for not substituting his right winger earlier. "The problem with Tim is that he is such a prodigious talent, but he suffers awful bouts of ill-discipline. We all thought at the club that he had managed to control these tendencies, but obviously this is not the case. I could see that he was losing control, but he had played such an effective role in the first half, I was loathe to replace him. I put my hand up, it was a grave mistake."

More forthright comments came from his team mates. "He's a complete prat if you ask me," commented midfield general Tim Lucas, "when will he ever learn ?" and fullback Steve Aslett summed it up in one word "barking". Mr. Horsley was unavailable for comment regarding the incident.

Tunaville : Slaughter, McKinney, Mullins, Neville, Aslett, Mitchell, Lucas, Tinker, Dodd, Donaldson (c), Horsley (sent off)

*Mr. Horsley will now have to attend a disciplinary hearing to explain his conduct. Needless to say the Gazette will keep you up to date with any new developments.