First Round Proper Hellenic League Cup.

Finchampstead F.C. 4 Slimbridge 5 (after extra time) 28/11/09.

After last week’s dismissal from the Reading Town Senior Cup, Finches were drawn at home to Slimbridge in the Hellenic League Cup on Saturday.

Anticipating a tough battle, Neil White

and Bobby Langridge had to reshuffle the team with Bob Yorke-Goldney out injured and a couple of players feeling below par.

It took the game a while to warm up but, once it got going, it was clearly heading for a competitive 2 hours. After the 1st quarter of an hour, when both teams were playing themselves in, Finches having had a couple of raids thwarted and Slimbridge had missed a couple of shots from Ian Henry and Dave Evans, Bobby Hogg collected the ball and distributed it accurately towards the flank. He continued his run through the middle to nod in the ball after Ben Knight had laid it back although he still had a good distance to catch up

and shoot before sprinting in to finish.

17 minutes had passed and Finches were leading by the single goal.

Ten minutes later and a route one ball was chased by Marvin Roberts.who lobbed it into the goal over the head of Perry Howard. Clearly offside to all in attendance, the goal was allowed to stand. Back on equal terms, both teams played commendably throughout the entire game. However, in the 36th minute, Finches’ approach work arrived in the visitors’ penalty area with Sam Wyatt enabling Pat Selby to increase the score comfortably. Before half-time, Dave Evans managed to squeeze in a second goal for Slimbridge and the session ended on level terms.

Both sides were committed to winning and, in true cup-match tradition swung from end to end. Marvin Roberts, the captain of Slimbridge, headed over the top of Perry Howard’s bar. Bobby Hogg came close to breaking the stalemate when he curled a long shot on to the roof of the net from a wide angle.Five minutes into the second half, Slimbridge were awarded a penalty when the ball was assisted in flight by an arm of Russell Carter and Marvin Roberts sent Perry Howard the wrong way to put the visitors in the lead. As the game gathered momentum, in the 55th minute, Ben Knight equalised from a pass from Dean Thomas to make it 3 apiece.

The next 20 minutes saw some entertaining football including an extended series of headed passes over 50 yards by the hosts. Rob Hine then gave Slimbridge the lead once more in the 75th minute which triggered Bobby Hogg into increasing his effort. This paid off when his free kick from mid-distance hit the underside of the cross bar to level up once more. The second half ended at 4-4 which sent the game into extra time.

Bobby Hogg wasted no time and within a short time had a free kick that curled away from the target. During the first period, Rob Hine clinched the winner with a quickly taken free kick whilst the referee was still attending to a player in a matter of discipline.

When Steve Ryan clashed with Nick Hazel, the latter extricated himself from the tangle on the turf and proceeded to punch Ryan several times around the head. This gained him a red card and Slimbridge were forced to defend a slim lead for the duration of extra time. As light faded fast, Substitute Brian Murphy, tried to break through the stalwart defence of Slimbridge. Again, Finchampstead set off for the target area, Matt Wright sending the ball along the touch line to Pat Selby who forwarded the ball to Bobby Hogg. The ball just missed the crossbar, over the top, Even the advantage of a corner kick could not get the ball in the net for the Finches.

The game played to a conclusion and the ten men of the Slimbridge side clung on to win. This was an excellent game, played in a good spirit by both sides apart the one unsavoury incident

and the result could have gone either way. Slimbridge proceed to the next round and remain on top of Div1 west and Finchampstead visit Challenors of Amersham in the Berks & Bucks next Saturday.

Finchampstead: Howard (GK), Wright,

Carter, Prentice, Hopper (c), S.Selby,

Thomas, Hogg, P.Selby, B.Knight, Wyatt.

Substitutes: Murphy, Ryan. For Thomas & Wyatt.

Arquimbau, Axton-Hall, (not used)