Casuals and Pelham fell to a 3-2 defeat away from home against Sawbridgeworth Town FC in the league cup semi finals. The two sides met sitting in first and second respectively in the league so both sides knew how tough the game was going to be. Sawbridgeworth Town started very quickly and got their passing game going early. However although they saw a lot of the ball, Dan Monk in the Pelham goal remained untested. Pelham finally found their feet after it took five minutes or so to get into the game and started to keep the ball a lot better. The first goal came after ten minutes and it was a great team effort. Some lovely one touch football from the away side saw the ball move quickly from the half way line to the back of net, with Tim Shaw finishing off the move cooly. With Pelham going ahead early on they knew the home side would react and they did just that, finally carving out some chances which threatened the Pelham goal. The home side made it 1-1 on 20 minutes as they swung in a corner towards the front post which the Monk and the defender on the front post could not keep out. After a strong spell from Pelham that equalising goal knocked them back a tad and it was Sawbridgeworth Town who started to get on top a bit more. They doubled their tally eight minutes later and made it 2-1. Pelham knew if they didn't react quickly they would be punished and it could turn into a rout rather quickly. However they did just that and once again worked themselves back into the game seeing a lot more of the ball. On 36 minutes after some good work from Tim Shaw he was pulled back on the edge of the area winning a free kick in a dangerous position. The man who won the freekick and had scored from direct free kicks in his last two attempts stepped up to take this one and didn't disappoint, sticking the ball in the far corner with the keeper routed to the spot. Pelham started to build some momentum and looked like the team on top when the game was turned on its head. A two footed challenge with studs up from the Sawbridgeworth Town striker on Ant Hamilton-Pilot provoked an angry reaction which unfortunately the ref decided to produce a red card for. Pelham were down to 10 men for the second round on the spin but took confidence that they had to do it before in the quarter finals against Saffron Hawks so could do it again. Pelham saw out the remainder of the half and both sides went in drawn at 2-2. The sending off had a positive effect on the away side as they started to work together and communicate a lot more then they did in the first half. Sawbridgeworth Towns intensity dropped as complaceny potentially crept in playing against 10 men. Pelham held firm and defended well for the first 15 minutes, letting the home side have the ball in their own half and forcing them to punt long balls forward which produced nothing. Surprisingly Dan Monk in the Pelham goal had a very quiet first half of the second period as Pelham looked to hit on the counter attack. They were successful and did carve out a couple of chances before unfortunately they were pegged back again. Tired legs started to set in and a lack of concentration saw one of the Sawbridgeworth Town players get half a yard of space which he used to full advantage, striking the ball into the back of the Pelham net. It was a massive blow to the away side not because of how hard they had worked but also because it was the first real chance the home side had in the second half. However Pelham reacted well and continued to focus on the task at hand once again holding firm but also playing some good football and keeping hold of the ball well. They came close to equalising and had the better of the chances between the two sides, with a James Bosher header coming close from a Gavin Brace freekick and in the last few minutes with Tim Shaw breaking through one on one with the keeper which would have gone in if it wasn't for a great save from the goalkeeper. Sawbridgeworth Town saw out the rest of the game and held on to their one goal advantage. Although it's a disappointing end result it was an absolute heroic performance again from Pelham with 10 men. Its a shame we walk away from the game with nothing as it feels we deserved something from it but that's the way it goes sometimes. However with two more cups to focus on theirs plenty of opportunity to reach a final again this season, starting next week with an inter divisional quarter final against Brewers. Micks man of the match today could have gone to anyone on the pitch but with two goals and a great counter attacking threat in the second half it goes to Tim Shaw. Let's move on to next weeks quarter final now and take confidence from this performance as we could well meet Sawbridgeworth in the inter divisional cup semi finals granted that we both win next w
