Where to begin?? A horrendously frantic friday night set the tone for what was to be an incredible match from a neutrals point of view. With only 10 players certain to turn up, a smashed George calls me at 1am and says he can get his mate down at short notice. Ash then belatedly confirms he can play giving us a solid 12 players. This was lucky as Eric was to turn up on Saturday still drunk from the night before and throwing up all attempts by Lucozade to sober him up. So, turning up to the pitch with 1 min to go before KO, thanks to roadworks galore along the way, add to that Eric having to sleep in the car for the first half to try and sober up, we were ready for action!!
The game began with a familiar tone, early control, and it seemed that we would be fairly comfortable. Without really threatening their goalkeeper we were getting into the better positions and creating half chances. On one occassion Ash lobbed over the bar from the corner of the box when the keeper was retreating back to his goal, George also saw a swivelled shot go over the bar in the early exchanges. Then, with about 15mins on the clock Old Sutts took the lead. A ball down the channel found their striker who rounded Jake and put the ball in to the empty net. It was not long after that we were 2-0 down; The otherwise excellent Andy lost the ball at the back and the ball was squared across the box where their midfielder finished nicely with a side footed finish.
It then took a while for Meads to start playing again, battle cries rang around the pitch as some players tried to get the team going. In all honesty it had been a dreadful first half to watch. Meads had stopped playing the ball to feet and were aimlessley kicking the ball into areas where the strikers had no chance of winning it. The midfield and strikers were too far apart and it was when we sorted this out that the football that we played got a lot better. One attack towards the end of the first half showed there was still some fight left; a nice move down the left finished with Ash shooting at goal, but his effort was saved by the legs of the keeper. We had also had a couple of very strong shouts for penalties turned down, one when Ronnie was clearly upended in the box and the other when George was simply barged from behind by their centre back. The ref then said 'would have been a foul if it was outside the box, but too soft for a pen'!!! The ref was to have an even greater say in the game later on.
The 2nd half began and immediately I was confident we would get through it. The tempo was better and we were playing to our strenghts and working off the strikers rather than just hitting it to them. With about 10 mins gone in the first half we got one goal back. A ball in to the box from Rory was flicked on by Neil, which found Jonathan at the back post to hit home from a couple of yards. Thats 4 in 4 for the big centre back. We were back in the game and looking easily the better team. Eric had in the meantime come down from the car and we switched to 3-5-2 to sure up the midfield. We continued to play the better football of the 2 teams and were nearly completely dominant. Meads drew level when a ball from Eric to George was flciked into the path of Ronnie, who raced clear of the centreback to finish through the keepers legs, 2-2 and surely going onto to win the game with relative ease. Old Sutts wre given the perfect chance to once again go infront when they got a penalty but their striker hit the ball wildly over the bar, a trend that was to continue in the penalty shootout.
The game was to take a further twist when a clear foul was missed by the ref on Ash, who ran back and made a reckless, but not overly dangerous, challenge. It was made to look even worse as Kev had also made a challenge, so it ended up being a sliding tackle sandwich. Ash then got up and was confronted by thier captain and they squared up but that was it. The referee looked around helplessley looking for non existent linesman to help him out, and then called over Ash. As tempers threatened to boil over the game was thrown into further farce when Ash was shown a straight red for 'head to head contact'. I spoke to the captain after the game and he said there was nothing of the sort, which is good for Ash but no use to us on the day.
Down to 10 men with 20 mins to go, and to compound matters they score from the resulting free kick. The ball was flcicked on and their striker benefited from some indecision between Neil and Jake and lofted the ball over Jake. 3-2 down and surely beaten.
We continued to press with players switching positions like musical chairs and we got our rewards in stoppage time when Neil nodded the ball back to Ryan, who struck the bouncing ball sweetly and with the aid of a slight deflection the ball flew past the keeper, cue pandemonium.
Extra time...
With Ryan on a comeback game, he had found out he was indeed not ready to play as his calf and groin had both gone, so were effectively down to 9. Old Sutts took the lead once again to make it 4-3 but Meads immedialtey struck back with a free kick from Kev being helped on its way by George and the ball went ovewr the keepers head and into the back of the net. 4-4!!
The games frantic nature continued, but was nearly sealed with a wonderful strike from Neil. As the ball bounced on the corner of the box Neil struck the ball with absolute precision but his strike thundered back off the bar and away from danger. The game finished 4-4 and pens it was to be. Kev, George, Neil and Rory all scored thier penalties and they missed all but one, blazing 2 over the bar.
Somehow through to the Semis in a game that we never had the lead by showed a great spirit to continue pressing and working for eachother. We cannot pretend they were quality opposition, they were far from it but on a day when things seemed to be completely against us, whether by our own fault or not, we managed to navigate a way to a victory.
MOM went to Andy for a tireless display, so keen to keep running he played right back, right mid and right wing forward all at the same time. Meads made it through and are now only 1 game away from a 2nd successive cup final, although I have a feeling we may have to start a little better than we did on Saturday if we are to make it there. Its a great chance for this team to do something this year and Saturdays battling performance in awkward circumstances showed that the team are willing to fight to get there.
