Cringleford ended the cup dreams of tangerine coloured Wymondham College as they capped off a fine match with a scintillating second half performance which left the crowd begging for more.
Cringleford had some enforced changes as a result of losing two regulars due to the age restrictions and were also without leading goalscorer Ecky, who was at a dancing competition (we hear he beat George Sampson in a close run final - we wish him well when he enters X-Factor next year). Cringleford were also without their senior citizen, Mick Sanders for the kick-off as he forgot to put his clock forward and Dave Sharred who had been omitted as he upset Ecky!
Despite all of these changes Cringleford settled into their game quickly and the first real chance fell to them. After a clever jink and cross from Fraser to the far post Mike Pyne headed over from close range. Wymondham played the tidier of the football in the first half with Cringleford giving the ball away needlessly far too often. Wymondham's tidy approach play led to a couple of breakaways but last ditch tackles by Shaul and Bartlett, the latter sporting a John McEnroe headband to go with his Edgar David googles saved Cringleford blushes.
Stevie J and Huw combined well on numerous occasions but it was a half of few openings with the Wymondham keeper having more to do than Masood. In fact the busiest person on the field was referee Podolski as he waved away what Cringleford thought was a blatant penalty for handball.
A stirring team talk by the returning George Wilson managed to get Cringleford up for the second half and the emergence of Dave Sharred and Mick Sanders after the break gave a fresh, if aged, look to the centre of midfield with a combined age of 106!!
It didn't take Cringleford long to take the lead. A rare foray forward for Shaul led to him teeing the ball up for Sharred who took his chance well when he drove the ball left footed into the corner of the net. Cringleford did not rest on their laurels and played probably their best 30 minutes of football so far this season. Five minutes later Huw Payne played in Pyne-o who drove the ball low past the keeper from the edge of the box.
Stevie J. was keen to get in the act and raced down the right wing, glanced up and landed a peach of a cross to the far post where Pyne-o headed home for his second.
Cringleford had the bit between their teeth and Wymondham had still not had a shot on goal when more tenacious work in midfield led to Sanders putting in Pyne-o who gratefully slotted the ball past the keeper for his hat-trick.
This was a clinical Cringleford second half performance with each attack initiated by the back four, carefully nurtured and constructed in mid-field and then uted with precison by the front-line. It almost seemed like an unfair result when you looked at the standard of the opposition but the result just further reflects the quality of the Cringleford display.
