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Ryan Owens reports on his side's 2-0 win against Stowupland in the Cockfield Cup semi-final on Tuesday 31 July
We didn't have the best preparation for the game as we were given the wrong kick off time. As a result we took 20 minutes to get to grips with the physical fast start of Stowupland.
We were playing a new formation 4-3-3 to mirror how the first team played on Saturday. Again as we didn't have time to go through the system thoroughly before the game, it took us a while to get to grips with how the system should be played.
Once we settled we started to get a foothold in the game, the front three of Tony French, Steve Chisholm and Stuart Alston causing problems to their back four. Chizzy after another mazy run set up Stuart Alston who fired over the top, a shame as it would have been a good to go in at half time 1-0 up.
We started the second half strongly, we were passing the ball better and making use of the extra man in midfield. This was shown to great effect when JACK TAYLOR unleashed a dipping shot from almost 30 yards that flew into the net to give us a 1-0 lead.
Steve Chisholm was causing their defenders problems with his strong running, so much so that in the space of 2 minutes he was through on goal twice before being taken out crudely by the goal keeper on both occasions. There keeper was booked for the second challenge when it could have easily been a straight red. However justice was served when JACK TAYLOR spanked the ball home from the free kick to give us a 2-0 lead that was much deserved.
The game became a bit tetchy with several challenges from the opposition ending with our players needing the wet sponge. The great thing was that our boys kept their composure and kept playing their football and didn't react to the heavy tackles that they were being subjected too.
Everybody played really well on the night, we played a new formation, we didn't have the perfect preparation for the game but we still won the game and played some good stuff along the way.
The First team lads who came in were superb so thanks to them, we're in the final on Saturday kick-off 4pm so maybe we'll have our first trophy of the season come Saturday night!!
Team: Craig Rulton, Luke Simpson, Mark Arnold, Mark Dack, Dan Grindrod, Carl Cook, Danny Bull, Jack Taylor, Steve Chisholm, Tony French, Stuart Alston Subs: Anthony Clark, Ross Swain
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