Tilehurst YM 0 - 1 Earley Home Guard
For the umpteenth time this season Tilehurst had to settle for words of consolation from an outplayed opposition as they saw their cup dreams ended by a below-par Earley Home Guard.
Tilehurst were the only team in this game and dominated the chances and possession but could not see this good work through to breaking the deadlock.
Michael Harvey and Richard Godfrey were constant livewires up front and caused the Home Guard defence all sorts of problems in a first half that would have seen the Division 1 side happy if they'd have gone in to the break 3-0 down.
Harvey hit the post in the 12th minute after neat build up play with his strike partner Goderz and Godfrey was unlucky not to score when the Home Guard keeper kept him out after him out when he went through one on one. Joe Edwards was also a constant threat and had a couple of decent opportunites to open the scoring.
Home Guard only had pne chance of any note when they sent a man through one on one but Mark Bindefeld smothered the ball, playing his first game for YM in over 10 weeks.
The second half was much the same for YM. Mark Harding started to find his range with his passing and frequently managed to put Godfrey through playing off the last man and only a combination of good defending and bad luck stopped the home team from running up a cricket score.
Godfrey hit the bar in the 66th minute after working a good opportunity and three minutes later Bobby Buck hit the upright with a right footed drive.
Joe Edwards thought he had finally given Tilehurst the lead with a right foot effort that was swerving low into the bottom left corner only for the Home Guard keeper to pull out a fine save to keep the scores level.
Edwards had an excellent game in the middle linking the front men and the midfield nicely but it was centre back James Williams who nearly scored what would have easily been the goal of the season. Picking up the ball on the edge of his own area he waltzed forward evading several challenges before unleashing a fierce right foot drive which whislted past the laeft hand upright.
Tilehurst did have the ball in the net on the 85th minute after a ball in to the area wasn't cleared and the ball when dinked forward found Godfrey who tucked the ball away. The linesman flagged however, which amazed both teams as there didn't seem to be anyway that Godfrey was offside.
As the game headed for extra time, disaster struck when the Home Guard sub who'd only been on the pitch 5 minutes picked up the ball outside the area and curled a right foot effort in at the far post.
That was it, game over! Home Guard scored with their second shot on target and are through to the next round. Tilehurst have 11 league games remaining now and after outplaying a team in the league above comprehensively will be looking to win all of them and treating them as 11 cup finals.
David Gill was outstanding for Tilehurst btoh defensively and attacking and showed exactly why he's captain of YM
