Leadcraft Tilehurst 1 v Hampstead Norreys 4
Norreys had a break from trying to find 3 points in Divsion 1 with a trip to Leadcraft Tilehurst in the 2nd round of the Berks & Bucks Junior Cup.
Norreys went with just 11 players due to injuries and absentees but were hopefull that a beak from the league was what the players needed!
The game started evenly, with the home side enjoying some early pressure and good possesion on the wings but initialy were kept at bay with stand in keeper Simon making a good save at the near post (with his eyes closed!). The Norreys front 2 of Brad & Ali were playing some good football early on and linking up well, but just missing a goal.
Leadcraft had another good opportunity thwarted by the stand in keeper when a good through ball put a Leadcraft player in to go one-on-one with the Norreys keeper, who again managed to stop the lob by getting in a good block (again with his eyes closed!).
The deadlock was broken on 12 minutes when Norreys were finding it difficult to clear the ball from a Leadcraft attack, and the ball fell to an unmarked Leadcraft player inside the box who neatly slotted the ball into the left hand side of the goal for a 1-0 lead.
Strangely after going 1-0 down it was Norreys who were having the better of the possession and the front 2 were playing some good football. This good play was rewarded when Ali equalised after 30 minutes. A few minutes later things went from bad to worse for Leadcraft, when they went down to 10 men following a stamp on Karl in front of the referee. The protests from Leadcraft saw another player pick up a yellow card for kick ing the ball away. Norreys were taking advantage of the extra man and but for some good work by the Leadcraft keeper who kept the Norreys front 2 at bay. For all the Leadcraft keepers good work, there was a bit of a mix up at the back, when Brad pounced on a loose ball and slotted neatly into the back of the net for a 2-1 Norreys lead a few minutes before half time.
After the break, Leadcraft saw their numbers reduce to 9 after a late tackle saw a second yellow card being awarded. The 2 man advantage however seemed to hinder Norreys depsite the extra space on the pitch, particularly down the flanks, and it was Leadcraft who were looking like equalising on the break but for some good defensive work by Stretch, Stu & Karl. Leadcraft were then reduced to 8 following a straight red for abusive language to the referee. Again, Norreys were finding it difficult to find a way passed the Leadcraft keeper who made a number of good saves to deny the front 2.
A third goal did come in the 70th minute when Ali latched onto a through ball to blast passed the keeper. A fourth was also added by Brad 8 minutes later making the score Leadcraft 1 - Hampstead Norreys 4.
There was also a great build up from Norreys taking full advantage of the numerical advantage, and some quick passing saw Stoney with a clear opportunity to slot the ball into the back of an empty net only for him to blast wide from within the box!
The game finished 4-1 to Norreys and its onto round 3!
Managers man of the match was Ali.
