BROMSGROVE ROVERS AFC have been left counting the cost of Saturday’s defeat to Galore FC after losing a player to a serious injury during the side’s first home defeat of the season, writes Neil Gordon.
In an eventful game at South Bromsgrove High School, Rovers’ Robbie David was badly injured in an accidental collision with the visiting ‘keeper, in a match which also saw a coming-together of opposing players, a penalty, two red cards and ‘goals galore’.
The visitors could only field 10 players at kick off due to delays encountered en-route to Bromsgrove but were soon at full complement. However, neither team took hold of the game early on although numerous half-chances were created in a game, which was, at times, fractious.
On 13 minutes the visitors’ Sabar Saeed was penalised for handball after he fell on the ball with Rovers’ Murphy nearby. Saeed made his feelings known to Murphy before numerous players from both sides got involved. Order was restored with Saeed and Murphy both booked.
The visitors took the lead on 18 minutes when Mushin Salad somehow found the net with his back to goal following an excellent three-man move. Moments later Saeed was put through, forcing home ‘keeper Harris to make a great save.
Rovers’ Will Joyce was then added to the referee’s notebook for a deliberate handball which had stopped another Galore attack. However, the visitors would not be denied and they doubled their lead on 35 minutes when Mohamed Dara raced clear from the half-way line to score, finishing off a move which had started from a Galore throw-in deep in their own half.
It then went from bad to worse for Rovers as Robbie David was injured following an accidental collision with the visiting ‘keeper. A good move saw the ball come to David just inside the opposition’s box. The ‘keeper came out to challenge as the Greens player bravely got his shot away, but the pair collided and David hit the deck in clear distress.
The player received lengthy treatment before being replaced and taken to hospital and has now been ruled out for the season with ligament damage and a hairline fracture of the right tibia.
The Greens regrouped in the latter stages of the first half and enjoyed a good passage of play, but it came to nothing and they went in at half-time 2-0 down.
Galore extended their lead on 55 minutes when Saeed dispatched a low drive across goal and inside the back post to make it 3-0.
However, Rovers were thrown a lifeline on 59 minutes when a visiting defender dallied on the ball inside his own penalty box. Tom Cox pounced, won the ball and was promptly toppled. Ash Pardoe slammed home the resulting spot-kick to reduce the arrears.
Galore were then reduced to 10 men with Saeed being sent off for a bad challenge on Jack Hopper.
Second half drama
Throughout the second half tempers continued to boil over. Awed was booked for delaying a free kick after the visitors had been repeatedly warned about time wasting, and Rovers’ Cox was booked for a foul.
During another stoppage late on in the game players from both sides took the opportunity to express their opinions on proceedings. Another two players were spoken to by the referee before he marched over to the visitor’s technical area and booked a substitute.
Pardoe scored his and Rovers’ second goal in stoppage time when he drilled home from a corner. However, Rovers’ joy was short-lived as Ayub Warsame scored a quick-fire brace to seal a 5-2 victory.
More drama followed deep in stoppage time as Awed received his marching orders leaving Galore to finish with nine players.
Rovers drop to sixth in the league following this defeat ahead of embarking on a succession of away games in October.
