Scorers: Brown (2)
Into the quarter finals – woo hoo! (I had to ask the person next to me how to spell that but didn’t ask them why). Not just that but a really great performance too.
As usual the on the morning of a match the 14 became the 11 but 11 is all we require these days. The pitch at Albert Road was much better than I expected it to be – a bit heavy and unpredictable in places but people have said that about me in the past. We started really well – the front 2 really working well together and causing the oppo all sorts of problems. Both Olly and David on the wings were getting past their full backs with relative ease and we created a number of chances. A great turn and shot from Andy Brown and we took a deserved lead.
The defence was working really well as a unit and with the midfield tracking back it meant that the tricky oppo strikers did not really get a look in. After more good work from the midfield, Andy went through on goal again and finished with a powerful shot. We were still dominating when our opponents got a lucky break – a long ball over the top was cleared by Stephen Payne but the ref seemed to think he put a bit too much pressure on the attacker and gave a penalty. The rather annoyed Mr Bent in goal made a valiant attempt to save the resulting spot kick (by glaring at the ball as it rushed past him) but we went into half time at 2-1.
The second half was more frustrating as we created loads of chances that would have killed the game but we didn’t take any. This did give the oppo some heart and they stepped up their pursuit of an equaliser as we started to tire on the slope. Only a string of magnificent saves by our vice-chairman kept us in the game.
Great performance all through the team – on another day we could have scored 5 and it would have been comfortable but the fact the we dug in for the win and all worked hard was just as satisfying.
