What a long day. Im totally cream crackered but loved every minute of it. Days like these are the reason i manage these lads.
What a performance against a very good Greenfields side. Concidering we lost Jack Grover to flu, Scott Caws to sickness before the kick off & Lawrence Moore after 10 minutes to injury, the team adapted brilliantly & made the performance even better. The lads Controlled the match for all but the last 15 minutes which is no mean feat as the opposition were good quality. The players worked so hard to deny Greenfields anything in the way of chances first half & took a deserved lead on 25 minutes. A whiped in Max Wilson corner was headed home cleverly by Joseph Nash at the near post on his debut. At the other end Ben Lucas & Jack Farrow made last ditch blocks to keep the score 1-0 at half time.
Greenfields came out with a real purpose to get back in the match but a quick counter involving Matthew Cotton & Joe Nash found Henry Moore arriving on the edge of the box to smash home an unstoppable shot for 2-0.
Greenfields then threw everything at us and got a goal back with 15 left. A late free kick on the edge of our box was awarded & turned out to be costly as it was smashed home for 2-2. Joe Cooper then hit the oppositions cross bar with a free kick of his own, before the final whistle went and on to pens.
The boys held their nerve scoring 9 out of 10 pens to book their place in the quarter finals.
Full time 2-2
Order on pens:
Horndean youth
1 Joe Cooper (Scored)
2 Max Wilson (Saved)
3 Brad Jones (Scored)
4 Jay Garcia (Scored)
5 Matt Cotton (Scored)
6 Ben Lucas (Scored)
7 Lawrance Moore (Scored)
8 Jack Farrow (Scored)
Managers view:
The injury jinx hit us again with 3 key players lost either before the game or during, causing us to change the plan.
With no recongnised striker Matt Cotton & Joe Nash in his first game played up top with neither having much experience of the position. Despite the injuries and the reshuffle the players were amazing. The shape of the side was solid and this was helped with a total comitment from every player to do everything they could to get through the tie.
I could pick out any player for praise as all were superb, but i would like to give a special mention to the 2 new players playing their first competitive games for the team. Jack Farrow was oustanding down the left with as much energy and determination as i have seen in any game. Joe Nash who wasnt due to start, got thrown in at the deep end due to injuries, playing in an unfamiiar role of striker in a team which he hardley knows as yet. His performance however was top draw giving the Greenfields defence a real tough time scoring a good goal also.
If we can stay injury free from now on it should be an interesting second half of the season with 2 quarter finals to play in and plenty of points to play for in the league.
Player of the match: Joe Nash
