KNOWLE suffered a disappointing 2-0 defeat against Village First A to exit the Birmingham County Saturday Vase in the first round at the Aston University Recreation Centre.
A much-changed Knowle side struggled to find any fluidity throughout the game as an unfortunate own-goal from Dylan Bennett and Ashley Belgrave’s late strike condemned them to defeat.
The Solihull based club have fared better in the league however as they currently sit second in the Midland Football League Division Two table with two games in-hand on leaders Fairfield Villa.
After hammering Boldmere Sports and Social Falcons 4-0 in their lasting – Knowle’s display against Village could not have been more of a contrast.
The visitors struggled to provide service to Kaine Williams in attack as Village sensed an opportunity before taking the lead on 18 minutes.
A cross from the right ricocheted into the path of a Village player who fired against the inside of the post only for the rebound to strike Knowle player Bennett and go into the net.
The home side were determined to frustrate Knowle – having taken the lead – before the visitors were dealt a blow in the second period.
Knowle player Alex Paterson was taken out by Village keeper Ryan Oliver when jumping for a high ball on the edge of the penalty area from which he required eight minutes of treatment before being helped from the field.
To compound Knowle’s misery – referee Bradley Totney awarded Knowle a free-kick and only showed Oliver a yellow card despite the keeper having denied a clear goalscoring opportunity.
A bad day for Knowle became worse when Jay Payne had a penalty saved before Village doubled their lead deep into injury-time with the visitors camped in the opposition half.
Village player Belgrave chased a lost cause and pressured the Knowle defence before slotting an effort into the net to secure their place in the next round.
Knowle return to league action against Bolehall Swifts on Saturday, October 23 with kick-off at 3pm.
