Jubilee FC hosted Buntingford cougars in the quarter finals of the senior invitational cup. Jubilee were looking to get back to winning ways after losing their only game of 2012 to The Barge the previous week. Manager Elton Marks went with a 4-4-2 formation. In goal was the ever present Luke ‘Bosnich’ Lloyd. Max Charalambos and Saul ‘Set-piece’ Charalambos were at right and left back respectively. Dean Powell and Nicky Alvarez were at the centre of the Jubilee defence. David Binder and Josh Rogers started on the left and right of midfield. While Sam Brown and Matt ‘mad-dog’ Brown played in the centre of midfield. Joe Benbow and Marc ‘Barnes’ Farrell spearheaded the Jubilee attack today. Johnny ‘leftpeg’ Heather, Nigel ‘50p head’ Agyekumhene and Piers ‘livewire’ Short were warming the Jubilee bench today.
Buntingford Cougars won the toss and choose to kick off. The first 10 minutes were well contested. Marc Farrell had a shot from outside the box that beat the keeper but just clipped the bar. Just when Jubilee were on the attack. The ball was won in the middle of the park and played through to the Cougars attacker. He took one touch and put it into the back of the net. 1-0 to Buntingford Cougars.
Jubilee felt aggrieved at the goal and immediately went on the attack from the kick off. A free-kick won around the half way line was floated into the box by Saul Charalambos and was headed by Joe Benbow towards goal but the keeper saved. Saul Charalambos took the resulting corner which was headed goal wards by Joe Benbow again but scrambled over the line by Marc Farrell. Immediate response by Jubilee FC 1-1.
The Cougars kicked off but Jubilee were on the front foot. Sam Brown won the ball in the middle of the park and played the ball to Josh Rogers. Josh played the ball to Max Charalambos who played the ball down the line for Josh to link onto. Josh played the ball into the feet on Marc who back heeled the ball into the path of the on running Max Charalambos. Max hammered the shot into the top corner but was well saved by the goal keeper.
Matt Brown had a few individual runs and was flagged offside from a perfectly weighted through ball from Joe Benbow. Just when Jubilee thought they were going to get another goal a free-kick given away was whipped in by the Cougars and misjudged by goal keeper Luke Lloyd. The ball ended up in the back of the net. 2-1 to the cougars.
The Jubilee players were in shock after going behind again but before they could realise they were behind again as another free-kick was headed in to the back of the net. 3-1 to Buntingford Cougars.
The Jubilee players just couldn’t believe it but they knew they could win this and had the cojones to do it. The players started passing the ball around with pace and accuracy and a chance soon arose for David Binder. A through ball from Sam Brown to the left channel to David Binder was taken in his stride. David tried a placed foot footed shot but the keeper saved well.
A Free-kick was taken by Sam Brown but was deflected out by the wall and latched onto by Max Charalambos who was fouled and gained another free-kick. Joe Benbow stepped up this time and tried and improvised chip but on running David Binder was dubiously flagged off-side.
A ball taken by Marc Farrell was chipped into the path of Joe Benbow who out muscled his opponent and fired home. 3-2 to Buntingford Cougars.
The half time whistle blew with the score at 3-2. Elton Marks had a few words to say to the team and in particular to the defenders. The team was rallied and confident of winning the game.
Jubilee FC kicked off the second half and immediately went on the attack. Sam Brown had a lovely solo run but was unable to get his shot away before the ball went out of play. Matt Brown also had a nice solo run but had his shot well saved by the goal-keeper.
Manager Elton Marks made a tactical change by taking off Marc Farrell and replacing him with the speed merchant Piers Short. Jubilee were cranking up the pressure with Matt Brown playing in an excellent through ball to David Binder down the left. David but the ball onto his right foot and placed a shot in the corner. It looked destined for the bottom corner but the keeper got fingertips to his shot.
The equaliser came through Matt Brown. A whipped in corner by Sam Brown was converted from close range by Matt Brown. 3-3.
The game went through a scrappy phase with neither team really creating much. Sam Brown had a solo run into the box but just overran the ball as he was about to cross. The Cougars went close but Luke Lloyd done enough. Elton Marks made a change in brining off Josh Rogers for Johnny Heather.
As we were approaching the final 5 minutes of the game and the Cougars whipped in a free-kick from the half way line. The ball was whipped in and headed into the back of the net by an attack player. 4-3 to the Cougars and the game looked over.
From the kick off Joe Benbow and Matt Brown exchanged passes cutting the Cougar midfield apart. Joe played a weighted ball into the feet on Matt who lashed home the equaliser. 4-4, an instant reply from Jubilee.
Full time whistle blew with the score at 4-4, which meant extra-time. Elton Marks rallied the troops and sent them out to get the win.
Jubilee kicked off the first half of extra-time. Both teams looked fatigued and very little was created.
The second half of extra-time was where all the action occurred. Jubilee were pressing for the winner and were looking particularly dangerous from corners. But just as it looked like Jubilee were going to get the winner they were hit on the counter attack and were down to 5-4 with 5 minutes left to play.
Elton Marks substituted Max Charalambos for Nigel Aygekumhene and Jubilee kicked off. Dean Powell made a few runs from deep and forced a corner. From the corner Joe Benbow had a headed cleared off the line and from the next corner the goal keeper tipped the header over the bar.
Full-time and Jubilee lost 5-4. It was a strong performance from the Jubilee players and on another day the team would have got the result needed to progress to the next round in the cup. Jubilee FC have the chance to put things right when they play Bridge House in the semi-final of the league cup this coming Sunday.
