Unbelievable Result which has took us into a final with either Tees Valley or Coulby Farm at Thornaby Fc's stadium.
Game started off with The Red Lion defending and having to work hard to keep the Lingfield pressure at bay, in the first ten minutes The Lingfield were bringing the game to us, allthough they had early pressure there was'nt much threat coming towards the goal.
We defended well and had the team shape and tactics that we needed to overcome a passing team and pressure.
After two players for The Lingfield had to be subbed off with injuries early in the first half this boosted our confidence and unsettled them visibly as there passing turned into long balls and nerves set when they were carleless in posesion and we started putting pressure on them.
After some decent passing and possession for us we were starting to get ontop of the game and were the better team for the first half after the first 10 minutes, of pressure from the visitors.
The first chance was created after a passing move down the left side and when A.Morley whipped in a cross at the first post, C.Dixon held off a defender but glanced the ball onto the near post, rolled along the line and away to preserve the score at 0-0.
We were soon ontop and were winning a lot of our tackles and keeping the ball well.
Blackburn soon got a glorious chance when he struck a stinging curling shot after the ball was played perfectly for him to run onto and strike, the ball looked destined to nestle in the top corner but the keeper made a fantastic stop to keep the game 0-0.
After a few missed chances it looked like the first half was going to draw to a close and be level...
In the 41st minute we won a free kick on the left hand side of the cente circle, mett curled a cross over the lingfield defence and R.Steel beat the offside trap to backwards header the ball over the Lingfield keeper and put us 1-0 up at the break, which was much deserved after our chances and us being the better team in the game.
The second half got under way, it started the way it would go until the end of the game with the referee not giving anything our way, the Lingfield were trying to put pressure back on and again came out the traps enthusiastic to get themselves back into the game with a goal, we again battled well and started evenly, the ball did fall to one of their players though who struck the shot from outside the box and scored, we should have been out to the ball quicker, but limiting them to shots outside the box was a testiment to how well we defended and tackled in the middle of the pitch.
The game was back to dead lock with both teams having some half chances but no real clear cut oppertunites at scoring.
We werent level for long though after A.Morley put us ahead again with a goal that was an excellent team move, and well deserved the finish.
Again the Lingfield had to keep their hopes alive of reaching the final by mounting the pressure, which they did but only managing to produce shots from way out and set-pieces gifted to them by the ref at nearly every oppertunity.
One of these did produce a result for them after a free kick was bounced up infront of A.Steel in goal the attackers reacted quicker than our defence with only J.Hailey follwing the ball in we gave them a goal.
The game was going to be drawn out over the full 120 after the score was 2-2 after 90 minutes.
With fresher legs and a better fitness throughout the team after the subs of C.Hall,D.Little and Michael healey shown we started to get back ontop of the game and were the better team in extra time it looked like it was heading to penalities after there was no clear chances in extra time created, the best was from the lingfield after their striker through tiredness deceided to have a shot which was curling top corner till A.Steel made his save of the season so far to keep the game at 2-2.
Then the late winner came for us again after a free-kick was awarded to us in the 118th minute and was delivered in quite flat by C.Hall after it bounced between two of their defenders it fell to M.Wildon who took a snap shot and after the feeper got a hand to it could not cope with the speed and power of the ball and it nestled into the far corner.
With not much time left and the Lignfield looked tired and absolutely finished the final whistle blew and The Red Lion had booked a place in the Hunter cup final and their first chance of a cup in 2 seasons.
Massive shout out to everyone involved again, from the people that turned up just to suuport and the people that turned up and didnt get a game it makes a massive difference when your there, its nice to have subs that play different positions.
From the front players who chased and hassled at every oppertunity to the tough tackling and tenaciousness of the midfield and the solidness of the defence everyone played a great game of football, with some good passing and team moves through the game.
Two players deffinately stood out though who were C.Blackburn and M.Wildon the right side was unbelieveable all game and both were neck and neck for m.o.m but with Shatty sealing the game for us he recieved it officially.
We've got an ideal oppertunity to win this final and our first cup, we also only need 2 points from our remaining 2 league games to make absolutely certain no-one can catch us and win the Division 2 trophy, lets do the double and get our trophy collection started.
COME ON THE LION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
