St Michaels arrived at Dulwich Sports Ground expecting a tough encounter in the 2nd Round of the Arnold & Beckley Cup against a strong Reynolds F C team who play 3 divisions higher in the Senior Division. At stake was not just entry into the next round but also an attempt to regain some pride as St Michaels had suffered a crushing defeat in a pre season friendly against this same opposition.
Before the game started both teams and supporters observed a minutes silence to recognise our fallen war heroes. The game then started at a furious pace and tackles were flying in from both sides. In the 10th minute 3 consecutive tackles from Adam Fahy stopped Reynolds taking the lead. The game went from end to end until in the 24th minute a free kick lead to a headed goal for Reynolds. The half continued with St Michaels still holding their own despite some aggressive play from Reynolds which lead to a yellow card for one of their forwards who was fortunate not to get a red card.
Half Time: Reynolds F C1 St Michaels F C 0
The 2nd half saw Reynolds on attack from the start and after only 2 minutes a tap in made it 2 – 0. On 57 minutes a great save from Max Knott kept St Michaels in it and on 51 minutes after Fahy had tripped the Reynolds winger a penalty was awarded which was also well saved by Knott. It was only a matter of time before the lead was increased and in the 68th minute another tap in made it 3 – 0. In the 71st minute a mistake by Danny Baptiste led to an easy goal and in the 80th minute a fine solo goal made the score 5 – 0 to Reynolds.
A disappointing result for St Michaels after a promising 1st half. As in the pre season friendly they had been totally run ragged and outplayed in the second half in every position. Apart from Adam Fahy in the 1st half and the 2 saves by Max Knott in the 2nd half, no body really came out of the game with any credit. With a week off next week followed by another cup game the following week St Michaels have time to look at what went wrong and put it right to to enable them continue their unbeaten form in the League in December.
Final Score: Reynolds F C 5 St Michaels F C 0
