Cup Quater Final, Away from home, Middle of Storm Darragh. The boys knew today was going to be a close game and everyone would need to step up and give it their all.

A few changes from last week with Freddie H stepping inbetween the sticks, Back 4 of Ethan, Cam, Ryan and Dean. Lewis and Toby started in the middle after their performances last week. Mase came in on the left with Dorian and Sam just behind Kieron up top. A strong bench with Alafy, Jack and Stephen if needed.

We started strong, Dominating the ball, trying our best to move it around quickly and get up the pitch quickly and challenge the keeper.
We got a few early shots off and the keeper did pull off a few good saves from Mase, Sam and Lewis.

Unfortunately a mistake in the midfield sent the ball over the top of our defence and the Number 11 for Willingdon did well and slotted the ball into the bottom corner. 1-0 Willingdon.

This seemed to rally our boys and they took the front foot again, creating good opportunites for Sam, Dorian, Mase, Lewis and Kieron. We came close several times but it took a pass from Lewis out to Ethan before he sent it through for Dorian, who collected the ball and drove past his man and into the box before firing a brilliant finish into the far left corner. 1-1

Unfortunately Ethan was unable to continue after this so had to come off, Jack stepped up and moved into Right back for us.

The rest of the half was a bit less controlled as Storm Darragh and the winds kicked up meaning the ball spent a lot of time rolling out of play.

HT - WILLINGDON - 1 - TD - 1

At the half the boys were fired up and wanted to go out and take the game by the horns. Alafy came on for Mase on the left after a good half from Mase.

Right from Kick off, we took the ball and drove at the Willingdon defence and it paid off almost instantly. A great bit of build up play on the left from Alafy, beating his man before laying it into Lewis. Lewis saw Sam open on the edge of the 18 yard box and played it into him. Sam took the ball, turned his man on the edge and hit an absolute Beaut of a shot over the top of the keeper to give us the lead. 1-2

From here the game seemed to slow down on our part and we spent a lot of time trying to keep the ball further up the pitch but with the wind against us, we sat a little bit further and did our best to soak up the pressure and we defended really well and Freddie was vocal and quick off his line to claim any loose balls.

We were denied 2 clear penalties when we got further up the pitch with Kieron being sent into a different postcode by the defender as he was trying to shoot, nothing given. The other was a handball by their defender but it was given against us to the surprise of even their lino!

From here the boys did start to lose their heads a little and a sloppy passback was too short and straight to their striker who made no mistake. 2-2

Within a few minutes we conceded a stupid freekick on the halfway line and Willingdon played it quick down the left wing and their winger cut in, rode several tackles before playing it into the striker to give them the lead. 3-2.

This seemed to wake us up a bit and a change up top with Stephen coming on for the final 10 minutes of normal time for Kieron.

We were on the front foot and started to get a few more free kicks and ended up getting a corner with 2 minutes left of normal time. Stephen placed it and whipped in a brilliant cross to the back post and it was met with a thumping header by Alafy who had lept like a Salmon to get us level. 3-3

FT- ONTO ET - 3 - 3

With the start of extra time and the wind with us, we wanted to get the chance to take the lead however the hosts took the lead within 1 minute of the half with a controversial goal. The striker was offside and flagged off by the linesman but the ref over ruled this as our boys had stopped due to seeing the flag. The striker tucked the ball past Freds and there was a lot of confusion before the goal was given. 4-3

This really deflated the boys and was unlucky but they took the game to Willingdon to try and get another equaliser.

Kieron came back on for Toby at the half of Extra time and we went full attack for the last 10 minutes. We had 2 chances to get level with Sam going through but a last ditch block stopped him scoring and Stephen then whipped another corner in for it just to hit the top of the bar.

FT AET - Willingdon - 4 - TD - 3

Another end to end game against Willingdon with both teams doing their best in stormy conditions today. The boys were brilliant and its such a tough on to take due to a few mistakes and decisions.

MOTM- DEAN ROADLEY- As it was the last game of the year, gave the decision to the boys at the end of the game and it was a unanimous decision from the boys. Dean was brilliant today, strong in the air and on the ground, dealing with 2 tricky players and doing his best to support Mase and Alafy going forward. Well done Dean!