Coming off the back of a 10-0 victory, Haddonfield went in to a cup tie against Maroon XI - who are two leagues above - full of confidence and ready for a cupset.
Without banned top scorer GJ and injured Vice-Captain Scott Mulgrew, the Manager took the chance to shift the team around. Adam Pantelli came in to the defence for a first start, John O'Connor and Chris Willis moved in to central midfield and Rob Savage moved up front.
It was Maroon XI who started faster, fashioning a few scoring opportunities and keeping the ball well before taking the lead through a well taken finish in to Sam Holland's left hand corner.
It wasn't long before Haddonfield were level, Stuart Lee didn't give up on an overhit Matt Bell through ball and profited from it when the Maroon 'keeper spilt the ball at his feet, giving Stuart the simple task of knocking the ball round him and rolling it in to the open net.
The game was becoming a real end-to-end spectacle and both sides were guilty of missing great chances to go in to the lead - Rob Savage completely mis-hitting an attempted chip when through on goal the worst of the lot.
Inevitably a goal was to come and was closely followed by 2 more, with Maroon again taking the lead through a sweetly hit volley that cannoned back off the inside of the post and into Sam Hollands stomach before dropping over the line - not the Haddonfield 'keeper's best moment.
Not long after and that man, Stuart Lee was at it again when he took control of a bouncing ball on the edge of the box before rifling a volley in to the top right hand corner, giving the Maroon 'keeper absolutely no chance.
A first half hat-trick was then completed just before half time when Rob Savage found space in-front of the Maroon defence and floated the ball through to his strike partner, who took it in his stride before curling it past the onrushing 'keeper and into the far corner with minimal fuss.
3-2 at half time.
After a switch of formula at half-time, Haddonfield began to get on top in the second half before - perhaps against the run of play - Maroon equalised with 20 minutes to go after a defensive mix-up ended with a Maroon player looping the ball over Sam Hollands with a header from just inside the box.
With Stuart Lee having to be substituted with an injury, the Haddonfield players could have been forgiven for wondering where the goal would come from and it seemed like the day might have been against them when Rob Savage finally had the ball in the net - when a brilliant teasing cross from John O'Connor was parried in to his path from by 'keeper - only to see the offside flag incorrectly raised.
With the wind seemingly knocked out of the Haddonfield players, Maroon began to get back on top and looked more likely to score, until Rob Savage put the away side 4-3 up, running on to a Matt Bell flick on and cooly rolling the ball past the 'keeper and in to the far corner.
Maroon pressed for an equalizer and came very close on a couple of occasions but ultimately failed to score and the final whistle was a welcome sound to the Haddonfield players, who had worked their socks off for the victory.
Onwards and Upwards!
