Under 16s
No treble as boys run out of steam
Posted by Webmaster
May 2, 2010, 21:55

Eastern Junior Alliance Cup Final: Sunday 2nd May 2010

The EJA Cup Final and City and Boreham Wood were the two teams left from the fifty that started out.

City after winning the County Cup on Friday night were going for the treble after securing the league last Sunday. Boreham Wood for their part won the Beds division of the EJA and turned over the highly rated Ilford in the semi's.
 
We lined up as follows :
BRANDON, YOUNGS, WYMAN, SPENCER (c), SAPSFORD, FLACK, HOBSON, BROWN, NICHOLSON, DARLING, POOLEY. subs ; WRIGHT, DRISCOLL, MARTIN, HOWARD, GUY.
 
Unfortunately we were goal down within two minutes. A high ball into the area found its way into the net. It did appear that BRANDON in the City goal had been impeded, but the ref awarded the goal despite City protests.

Boreham Wood applied pressure for the opening ten minutes but the back four did a good job to prevent any further goals. We then got the ball down and started to knock it around. The midfield four of FLACK, HOBSON, BROWN and NICHOLSON were all coming out on top against their counterparts and we had a couple of good half chances.

DARLING and POOLEY up front were certainly causing the Wood defence something to think about. Our equaliser on 25 minutes was a finely worked move. YOUNGS found HOBSON and his cross was flicked on by POOLEY for NICHOLSON to head across the box for DARLING to volley home. It was no more than our play deserved. Five minutes later a near carbon copy move saw DARLING just unable to apply the finish

Two minutes before the break and against the run of play City fell behind. A fine run by a Boreham player saw him beat three challenges and fire home from the edge of the box.
 
H/T Boreham Wood 2 City 1
 
Hopefully we could continue the fine football we had produced in the first half. In the opening ten minutes it was fairly even and then City made two changes. MARTIN coming on for YOUNGS and DRISCOLL on for FLACK. As the half wore on we were more and more on the back-foot with Boreham Wood starting to dictate the play. WYMAN made way for GUY but five minutes later an injury to SAPSFORD saw him leave the field for WYMAN to return.

The home side were now stretching our defence as skipper SPENCER was trying to rally his players for one last effort. With 15 minutes left HOWARD came on for HOBSON in midfield. We had one chance to get back into it as WYMAN and NICHOLSON combined to set up POOLEY but the big striker was closed down as he was about to shoot.

For the last ten minutes WRIGHT replaced BRANDON in goal. We continued to try and get back into the game but Boreham Wood's defence was well drilled and didn't give us many opportunities. A good cross by NICHOLSON saw DRISCOLL head down well for DARLING but his shot went over.

The last five minutes saw Boreham Wood finally kill us off and score twice to perhaps give the scoreline a slightly flattering look.
 
F/T Boreham Wood 4 City 1
 
So no treble for us, but the boys can be proud of their efforts today. In the first half we played some of our best football for sometime, but got caught by a sucker punch right on half-time. The 2nd half was always an uphill battle and Boreham Wood fully deserved their win. The scoreline flatters them, but take nothing away from them they are a very decent side.

Manager Simon Youngs said "We gave it everything but Boreham Wood deserved it today. We needed to take our chances in the first half when we were at our best but didn't. 2nd half they dominated and congratulations to them, they are the best side we have played this season. Yes some of the boys tired in the 2nd half because of Friday night but when you are successful you play more games. No excuses the best side won on the day, but we have had a great season”.


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