A brave Ship were denied in their last chance for silverware this season as they cruelly lost a penalty shoot-out to Sport Club Santar in the Ron Halfacre Challenge Cup. The day had already started horrifically for manager Ollie Hurrey as he managed to write-off his hired sports car at 7am on the M4 and although he emerged unscathed personally, his day wasn't to get much better. The rest of the team arrived in splendour (and safety) as a unnecessarily massive coach ferried the team from the pub to the match and with all the players donning specially-commissioned t-shirts courtesy of club legend Rob Smith, who continues to selflessly provide for the team. Ollie did make it back to Chiswick in time to see a dominant Ship deservedly open the scoring as Kieran nodded in a rebound from a Jon Bignell snap-shot and they should have extended their lead as James headed narrowly wide, Alex slipped with the goal gaping and Chris fired wide when through on goal. Cheered on by a big support, Santar fought back in the second 45 and when Simon unfortunately failed in his attempt to dribble a clearance away from an oncoming striker, they were handed a lucky equaliser, that was quickly followed up by another as a maurauding Santar defender found himself clean through to slip the ball past Simon. The Ship were rocking and Ollie attempted to steady it by introducing all 3 subs and hunted their way back into the game with a fresh impetus. Hurrey wriggled free to test the keeper first with a tame shot before then firing a volley just wide. Sub Adil, backed up by James, tormented the opposition right-back and as the pressure grew, it was a cross from this side that found itself through to Kev on the back-post who finished with aplomb into the roof of the net to send the Ship faithful wild. The teams couldn't be separated at 90 mins and so extra-time began with Hurrey clipping the post with a drive from a tight angle and Alex bullying the defence in search of a winner. Simon thwarted the opposition when it looked like they might nick it following a good move and time eventually ebbed away to leave the match to go to penalties. The Ship had no shortage of volunteers but it was left to skipper Digger, the usually trusty left-peg of James Dixon, the indomitable Kieran, Ship legend Colesy and the bleeding forehead/lucky-to-be-alive Ollie Hurrey to try and edge the tie. The Ship went first and Digger set the tone as a surprisingly athletic Santar keeper palmed his effort wide and when Santar stepped up to fire their first into the roof of the net and Kieran saw his tipped around the post, the Ship began to fear the worst. Santar then buried their second and the Ship thought it was all over as James was denied. However, Santar skewed their third penalty wide and when Colesy was fortunate to find the net with his tame effort (especially after cursing the quality of his colleagues spot-kicks) and Simon superbly saved Santar's next, the Ship believed once more. Ollie Hurrey shrugged off post-traumatic stress disorder to slam in a confident 5th but it was all in vain as Simon got a hand to but couldn't prevent the decisive Santar penalty slipping in. A gracious Ship applauded their opponents as they lifted the trophy and with heavy hearts, returned to a welcoming pub to look to drown their sorrows, while Ollie left early to return to a seething wife and horrendous insurance bill that completed a literal car-crash of a morning. There was just time for him to present Captain Digger with his Managers' Player of the Season and Alex with his Top Goalscorer award (that were still scuffed and scratched from having skidded across the motorway after being flung from Ollie's stricken vehicle) with the Players' Player and Best Newcomer postponed for another, hopefully happier day. It means that although the Ship has a chance of winning promotion next week with their double-header finale to the league season, it has unfortunately been a season of ifs-buts-and-maybes for the new-look side. If they can add a cutting edge to the team for the next campaign, the future could be very bright indeed.
