Match Report

Into the semi-finals, another good win.

We turned up at a \'Rec\' to be greeted by a wreck of a pitch. If it snows this winter I\'m gonna take my tea tray to the top of this pitch for a decent bit of sledding.

Halstead became the third team from the league above us to be dispatched in the cups this season and to be honest we never looked like conceding.

We started slowly, obviously, but after a goal line clearance (by me, it was brilliant) and a few minutes of chasing the ball we settled and put on a quality performance.

George got our first with a free kick after about 20 minutes. Their keeper helped us out a bit by leaving a gap which George more than made the most of. At the other end our back 4 and Gibbo in goal were solid. The midfield had to watch the game go past them for a lot of the game, but when we did get it down on the deck we played some good stuff.

Up top Russ was quality, even after getting a whack which he later described \"I thought my head had fallen off\". Zander & Lloyd playing wide had to graft to get any space in the first half, but did well to give us options going forward.

Second half saw us kick up the considerable hill, but the pattern of the game didn\'t change. Lloyd unleashed a hopeful 30 yard effort about 10 minutes of the half. It may have taken a slight nick off their centre back on its way into the net, but it was on target to begin with.

As a team we defended well for the remainder of the game. The oppo\'s plan to smash long balls at us played right into our hands.

I was quite rightly dismissed about 25 minutes into the second half for a second yellow, but even then we never looked like surrendering our lead. As much as I was enjoying playing, it was only fair to give everyone else a chance to get some MOM votes, I was cleaning up until a poorly timed challenge.

Nothing notably funny happened all game, which is odd. No-one pulled out of the squad with a shocking excuse on Saturday morning either, which is even odder.

A decent result against another half decent side, all without Bill who has scored 99% of our goals this season. Reynolds was on his 38th holiday of the year. I\'m retraining as a Sparky, kid\'s got too much money.

First quarter final done, next one is against a side from Div 1, we\'ll probably beat them an all. I genuinely have no idea which cup this was.

Big thanks to the lads who dropped to the bench to make way for a few changes, you\'ll be starting next week.

Next week we all have to do a John Terry and Wayne Bridge and pick a lad from the other team to not shake hands with at the beginning. Mind games are starting early this season.

Club Langley up next. They had the cheek to take a point off us a few weeks ago. Big game to leapfrog a couple of sides in the league!!

Team -
Lee Gibbs; Dave Martin, Luke Johnson, George Belchamber, Lee Cross (Rich Tapsfield); Ad Ellson, Matt Ellis (Lou Hussey), Stu Lenton (Rich Piles); Lloyd Miller, Al Barnes, Russell Nethercot (Errol Ahmed)