The pitch was in good condition the overnight rain had softened it up. Whilst it threatened to rain it never did and on occasions the sun came out to play. This was the replay following the previous 4 – 4 draw in round 1 of the Dalley cup however Hadcroft did not come out of the starting blocks at all and Halesowen kept pushing wave after wave at the Hadcroft defence which eventually cracked and Halesowen took the lead on 37 minutes 0 - 1. In one of the few attacks that Hadcroft had in the first half saw the once again hard working Julian Probyn pushing on at the Halesowen Defence and stole a goal a minute before half time 1 - 1.
HALF TIME 1 – 1
The second half was a similar affair to the first half with both teams creating slight chances but nothing to shout about. Following a knock on the back of his head Lee Turner was replaced by Sean Gray on 56 minutes, David Smith was replaced by Luke Smith 74 minutes. Extra time was looming fast and with 2 Hadcroft players showing injury signs the final substitution was going to be held back in case the match went into extra time however this decision was taken for Hadcroft when a strong tackle on Damon Lewis left him with a badly bruised foot and unable to carry on and He was replaced by Richard Parsons on 89 minutes.
FULL TIME 1 – 1
The start of the first period of extra time saw Hadcroft down to 10 players when Daniel Shakespeare was unable to carry on. Halesowen kept pushing and scored on 94 minutes 1 – 2. Hadcrofts Goal Keeper then had the boob of the day when a ball bounced out of his hands and into the net on 100 minutes 1 – 3. This is how it stayed till the end of the first period of extra time
FIRST HALF EXTRA TIME 1 – 3
The Referee turned the teams straight round but in doing so seemed to galvanise Hadcroft into life as suddenly they started to want to win challenges and attack. Supersub Luke Smith started the turn round with his goal 2 minutes into the second period 2 – 3. The other substitute Sean Gray did not want to be left out so he went one better scoring his first on 5 minutes and his second on 7 minutes 4 – 3. Hadcroft had gone from 2 goals down and dead and buried to leading in just 7 minutes. Chris Smith scored with the final kick of the game 5 – 3. This was a win that did not look like it would happen but it did.
FINAL SCORE AFTER EXTRA TIME 5 – 3
Next match Sunday 6th November Kick Off 10.30am at Wordsley park pitch 1 against Lloyds in the quarter final of the Dalley Cup
