Scholars Humbled by Malty in FA Cup

The two sides faced each other in the FA Cup Preliminary Round on a hot Saturday afternoon in South Yorkshire.

The game started with the Scholars under pressure with Maltby playing down the slope.
After seeing out an early spell of pressure in the first 10 minutes the scholars were hoping to have a positive spell on the ball. However, after Silva was dispossessed on 13 minutes Maltby made the most of the regain with Ant Wilson picking up the ball on the edge of the area and wrong footing Stallan in the scholars goal.

Maltby looked for a quick second but the scholars managed to stop any major efforts on goal. With 20 minutes played Loughborough won their first corner, after a powerful run by Akpobire saw his low cross blocked.

A poor corner into the box was cleared with ease to Connor Smith who then lost possession on the edge of the area for Maltby to counter. The initial counter was dealt with by the scholars winning the ball back in their 18 yard box, but a loose pass into the centre of the pitch allowed Maltby to attack again with a ball over the top for Aaron Martin who slotted home on the angle past the on rushing stallan on 21 minutes.

The game got worse for the scholars when on 29 minutes Martin got his second when he had the freedom of 6 yard box from a corner.

With half time only 4 minutes away the scholars then went 4-0 down as a dubious penalty was awarded against Stallan for catching the striker through on goal much to the disagreement of the goalkeeper and many of the close defenders. The resulting penalty was comfortably put home by Martin who sealed a first half hat trick.

HT 4-0

The scholars had to start the second half brightly to stand any chance of getting back in the game.

15 minutes in and the students were dominating much of the game but were rarely able to get a shot away to test the Maltby keeper.

The introduction of Dan Collins midway through the half seemed to inject some liveliness into the away side. On 70 minutes it was another one of the subs that should have scored for the scholars when Wilson was through 1v1 with the keeper but ended up taking the ball away from goal before winning a corner.

The resulting corner did see the scholars score when Will Dawes bundled the ball over the line after Smiths header was originally blocked on the line.

With 19 minutes to go the scholars couldn’t get any more rewards despite the possession. Maltby were able to see the game out after putting the students to the sword in the first half.

The scholars will now look to bounce back with and FA Vase fixture on Friday night away to Aylestone Park.