Shirley Town suffered an embarrassing defeat away to Battersea Ironside U25 on Saturday in the League Cup. The 6-1 scoreline perhaps hides the fact that despite Battersea being two divisions above Shirley, the game itself was fairly even and the away side will no doubt be ruing a number of missed chances and the manner in which some of the goals were conceded.

Shirley started the better of the two sides and put the home team under early pressure, creating a couple of half chances in the process. A mistake in midfield however allowed Battersea to break out at pace and release their left winger through on goal. With defenders coming across to cover, the keeper hesitated and showing great composure the attacker was able to avoid the covering challenge and round the keeper to slot the ball home for a 1-0 lead.

Shirley continued to press but were undone once again in no part to an astonishing mistake by the referee. A Battersea freekick on the halfway line was sent long to the edge of the box. Nick went up unchallenged to head the ball clear, however a clear shove in the back from the Battersea striker sent him flying he missed the ball. The striker was clear then able to apply a superb finish in to the bottom corner unchallenged. Despite appeals to the referee, the goal stood, leaving the away team incensed. It was perhaps no surprise that she failed to give the decision given that she was stood in the opposition half when the freekick was on the half way line, not exactly top positioning from the referee.

As always Shirley didn't give up and were soon back in the game but yet again the referee failed to make the obvious decision. A cross in to the box was spooned straight up in the air by the Battersea defender. The keeper was under the ball but failed to hold on to it and it fell to the feet of Lenny who had a simple tap in. But before he could roll the ball home from two yards he was hauled down by the keeper, and the referee correctly gave the penalty. Despite the clear goal scoring opportunity the referee failed to send the keeper off, awarding a yellow card instead. Bennett slotted the home the penalty to bring the score back to 2-1 at half time.

The second half started badly and got worse for Shirley town. The third goal was scored for Battersea when a freekick in to the box was played over the onrushing attackers and seemed to heading in to the waiting hands of Chris in goal when in a freak occurrence the ball bounced in, what can only be described as a crater in the pitch, and shot across the floor in to the corner of the net when the ball had been expected to bounce up to at least waist height. The referee initially disallowed the goal for several of the Battersea attackers being offside, and then changed her mind following pressure from the home side. Outrageous.

It continued to get worse for Town as they pressed to try and get back in the game as Battersea broke repeatedly at pace, and soon the score was 4-1 after yet another breakaway.

The game took an ugly turn when both sides were reduced to 10 men. As Shirley prepared to take a corner, a Battersea midfielder, possibly a friend of Ali G, and Nick got in to a bit of 'handbags' which resulted in them both being sent off for violent conduct - probably the only decent decision she made all game. After this Shirley continued to create chances with Luke, Lenny and Anthony all going close but they were caught on the break by the sheer pace of the Battersea attack and with a lack of numbers at the back following the dismissal of Nick, went on to concede two more goals. Battersea were even able to afford missing a penalty when their centre back blasted the ball over the bar after Gavin wrestled the Battersea player to the ground.

The final whistle was a relief in the end as the ref continued to bemuse with some bizarre refereeing decisions such as stopping the play to allow the home side a substitution when Shirley had an opportunity to break. The final score of 6-1 flattered Battersea but Shirley, despite a lot of effort shown, will be disappointed by the outcome.

Player ratings provided by Paul Harris