It was the semi final of the Division 3 cup today as Withington Rangers provided the opposition having moved into second place in the league behind the Heyside team following last weeks double over Clayton.
We knew this was going to be a difficult tie as in our previous meetings Withington have proved to be a really well organised side with some outstanding individuals.
The first game saw Heyside gaining the upper hand with several near misses and forcing some tremendous saves from the Withington keeper.
After the disappointment of the defeats in our last 2 games I have to credit all the boys today who probably played as well if not better than in any other game this season. I’m sure that all the B teams we are meeting at the moment have been strengthened by bringing in at least a couple of the A team and again today Withington were a much stronger outfit than in previous games.
The second half followed much the same pattern as the first but Withington also created chances and forced George into making good saves, one in particular a fantastic double effort as he forced a shot onto the bar before bravely gathering the ball from off the toes of the onrushing forward.
Withington took the lead though with a well worked corner from which a neat near post header sneaked in at the back post.
You could see from the boy’s faces what a kick in the teeth the goal was but far from feeling sorry for themselves they picked themselves up and laid siege to Withington’s goal as they tried everything to even the game up.
It wasn’t to be though as the match ended in a 1-0 defeat but in the overall context of the tie, to be determined by the aggregate score of both games, we knew that we had given the A team a good chance of overturning the deficit to ensure we reached the final.
Everyone contributed today – George a couple of great saves, Joel and Lennon superb in defence, Jake back from 2 weeks off tremendous again, Ryan intelligent passing and movement a great effort, Matty full of running and good tracking back, Aaron outstanding display deserved a couple of goals, Louis good work out wide and helping out in defence and Jack worked his socks off and adding more aggression to his tackling which we’ve been looking for him to add to his game.
Keep this up boys and the results will come again along with the rewards – you more than played your part today in getting the team to the final. Let’s kick on, win some games but most of all enjoy yourselves.
Well done!!!
MOM: Everybody had a claim on the award today but Jack deserved his second of the season after a committed display.
