The Area Cup seen Locos up against fellow Division Four competitors Trades & Labour. An away tie on paper, but as we share the same park, it was familiar territory for the "away" side.
After a previous 2-4 win for Locos in the league a few weeks before, Trades & Labour were sure to be out for revenge, especially given how tight in spells the first game was.
Locos made their best start to a match this season and took the lead 3 minutes in. A clever quick throw from Chris Chalmers put Emilio through on goal down the left side and he made no mistake in the box, beating the keeper one on one. 0-1.
Locos continued to dominate the early phase of the game, creating a few half chances and playing some nice football along the way. Emilio was causing all sorts of bother for the Trades & Labour backline who couldnt live his pace or power.
Trades and Labour were trying to make things happen when they had the ball, they were battling well in the middle of the park and had some pace on the flanks but the Locos defence were well drilled and stand in keeper Ryan Kelly was alert off his line to deal with any through balls.
30 minutes in, some neat play down the right flank from Marc Borthwick found Dean with a pass, who then cut the ball back to Chris who calmly placed the ball in to make it 0-2. The linesman waited about 5 seconds after the ball had gone in and decided to raise his flag. After a brief chat with the ref the goal was wrongly disallowed and the score remained 0-1. Embarrassing decision for both the linesman and referee.
This could have knocked Locos off their stride but they responded well to the terrible decision and found themselves 0-2 up minutes later. Again Dean Clark sent a lovely through ball to Emilio who caught the keeper off guard and poked the ball first time into the back of the net.
Half Time the message was clear to the players, keep up the energy and graft, dont get too annoyed with the flag happy linesman and the result will take care of itself.
Not long into the second half Dean Clark who was struggling a little with his hamstring made the logical decision and came off. Sean Porch came on to replace him who himself had been injured since the start of pre season. This allowed Trades and Labour to find a little more joy through the middle as Dean's graft was always going to be a miss and they began to create the better chances.
Some more changes were made to freshen things up ...
Off - Tom, Bobby, Chris On - Snodz, Brendan, Luke
Trades and Labour finally pulled one back around the 75 minute mark. A corner that was defended well and headed away from Sean Porch rolled to the path of the Trades and Labour player who sent an absolute screamer of a shot from 25 yards plus, through the crowd into the top corner. Definite contender of goal of the season.
The last 15 minutes was a healthy battle between the two sides, Trades & Labour desperately seeking that equalizing goal to send the game to penalties and Locos after the third to well and truly put the game to bed. Efforts from both were not rewarded late on and the score finished 1-2.
Another good physical battle involving both sides. Locos probably displayed the most quality overall which is why they deserved the victory. Trades and Labour are a decent team that arent afraid to roll their sleeves up and get stuck into their opponents, so it was a pleasing win for Locos and they move onto the next round.
Another battle against Trades and Labour in a couple of weeks is one to look forward to.
Man of the Match was Marc Borthwick. After a few substitute appearances he made his first start in mens football and impressed from the off. Played at Right Back which isnt his usual position but he showed composure and energy over the 90 minutes to earn MOM. Well played young man.
Up next a home league match against West Haddon Albion Reserves
