There are lots of positives to come from Real Rosehill's first defeat in round 3 of the SSFL Cup.
Atrocious conditions which included driving rain and hail on an extremely cold morning made this game very difficult.
Corona Rocca - 73 places higher in the league thought they were in for an easy game against the much younger and inexperienced Rosehill. "Men v Boys" was heard coming from the Corona players as both teams lined up for the start.
Real Rosehill playing in a new 4-5-1 formation started cautiously. Play was even for the first 20 with Corona just edging it. Rosehill lost Ryan Cunnington after 10 minutes with a foot injury following a hard tackle from the Corona midfielder. A substitution took place with Chris Dolding taking on the part of right back.
Conditions worsened and the other game at Aldrington was abadoned just before half time. At this stage it was still 0-0 so we would never have had a better chance to beat a premiership team. The referee should have abandoned the game in the end as it was getting dangerous. Corona did not want to as they thought they would beat us easy!
Half time saw the score at 0-0. Rosehill were carrying many injuries into the second half. Ben S a back injury, Adam the same, James D nausea, Shrubby needed to come off, Ryan D a shoulder injury and other players suffering near exhaustion.
Dan S had to come off ten minutes into the second half as the conditions made it near enough impossible for him to play on.
The game was still even with 20 minutes to go when a superb team move ended with Adam being beaten. Corona went 2-0 up with 75 minutes gone, this time a great individual effort.
The young lads of Real Rosehill never gave up and a change to 4-4-2 saw Real pressing forward and creating more chances. A foul on the outside of the box saw the resultant free kick from 30 yards scream into the net from Lewis Payne on 80 minutes.
Rosehill continued to press and had another couple of chances. Luck was not on their side when in the 88th minute Ben was put through only for him to slip in the area when he knew he would have scored. The goal area was so slippery and on another day we would have the luck, but not to dwell!
Well done lads an excellent performance in terrible conditions against a team 73 places higher! A bit like Torquay playing Chelsea!!!
Just goes to prove what a committed and dedicated team of players we have got. Always ready to give 100%.
We are in two other cups so need to go all the way in one of them.
Onto the next game and a good result will see us go into December in top place.
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