The UNITS took on Colwall St James from Worcester 1 in the last 16 of the County Cup
Once again we were stretched but started with
Mike, Danny, Kie, Eggy, Brownie, Baker, Newt, Coco, Ross, Hunter & Pountney - Subs were Acer, Taylor, Turner and Cuzer
Due to the weather Colwall were late arriving resulting in a late kick off and the waiting around seemed to have done the UNITS no favours as we started slowly. CSJ have only lost 1 in the league all season and moved the ball around well early doors and it was no surprise when they took the lead on 15 minutes when after some kamikaze defending the ball was fired wide for a goal kick, instead of re-grouping Mike tried a quick goal kick, only giving it to their forward who raced away and squared for their striker to tap home unchallenged, a sloppy goal to concede.
We were nowhere near our best, maybe not helped by being moved of our regular pitch however we started to grow into the game. Hunter and Pountney were linking superbly and clearly had too much for the CSJ back line and in the space of 20 minutes engineered between them 6 or so great chances which credit to their keeper he saved the lot, some of them superb saves as you wondered whether it was going to be one of those mornings as we came in at HT 1-0 down when on another morning we would have been 3 or 4 up
Cuzer was far from happy with the sloppy start and too many were not doing enough yet we were undeservedly behind and the game was there to be won with better application
The second half started the same with the UNITS on the front foot Pountney and Hunter both going close as you thought it was only a matter of time before the equaliser came as CSJ got deeper & deeper
Alas our old Achilles Heel struck again when despite the talk pre game we completely switched off from a corner allowing their man a free run across the box and he guided the ball past Mike from 6 yards
2 quickly became 3 when CSJ got in behind us far too easily and their striker side footed home from inside the box and you thought the game was over
Cuzer brought on Acer and Taylor for Danny and Baker and the UNITS went 3-4-1-2 as we threw caution to the wind
On 65 minutes Acer got one back for the UNITS when Ross cut inside and fired across goal and Acer poked home from 6 yards despite another dubious flag attempt by the CSJ lino the goal stood
Now with a bit of belief and 25 minutes to make something happen the UNITS woke up and were well on top, Hunter played a ball through to Acer who rounded the keeper and finished cooly from a tight angle to make it 3-2
By 75 minutes we were amazingly level, Brownie playing a lovely through ball to Pountney who broke the offisde trap to take a touch in the box and bury past the keeper 3-3
Coco got a knock on the knee and was replaced by Turner yet within a minute Brownie collapsed in a heap and had to come off so the UNITS were down to 10 men having made all their subs
Despite this we looked the only side to snatch a winner as all the early fluidity of CSJ had gone, they were now happy to play on the break. The UNITS finished with Newt's and Pountney playing as full backs as we went 4-4-1 as the full time whistle ended the game 3-3
The UNITS had to face extra time with only 10 men yet the belief was there and we were better now all over the pitch. Throughout extra time the game was one way traffic towards the CSJ goal, their keeper again made 3-4 top class saves, Turner hit the bar from a corner, Ross and Acer went close and right at the death after a slick break Hunter shot inches wide and the game went to penalties.
Mike was the first keeper to make a save to hand the initiative in the shoot out to the UNITS but misses from Taylor and Acer in sudden death meant CSJ stroked home the important kick to go through to the quarter final at the expense of the UNITS
A great effort from the lads to claw the game back from 3-0 down and to boss the game with 10 men just begs the question why we started so poorly. Baker and Coco, big players for us had their worst game bar none in a UNITS shirt, again defensively we were not good enough, again we failed to do basic defending from a corner, if we are too have any success this season we have to cut out the sloppyness. Alas, we've picked up more bad looking injuries to put pressure on our already stretched squad as next week we return to league action against Chainwire
Man of the match goes to Acer who turned the game from the bench with his direct running and tremendous workrate. Special mention again to Hunter who is leading by example with the arm band who had another fine game, neither deserved to be on the losing side
