27th November – match reports

Lincolnshire County Football Association – County Sunday Cup Round 4

Ivy Tavern 0

Ruston Sports FC 1

Makeshift goalkeeper Tom Scutt produced the goalkeeping display of his life for the visitors when they visited last season’s semi finalists in this year’s competition. The home side were left to rue a host of missed chances, none more so than when Ruston’s Daniel Nicholson headed home from a corner with 15 minutes to go. Ivy threw everything but the kitchen sink at Rustons but their defence stood firm and with Scutt in outstanding form they took the spoils with Nicholson’s solitary goal.

Metheringham FC 0

Holbeach United 7

Metheringham were certainly put to the sword when they hosted Holbeach United in the last sixteen of the County Cup.  The visitors were formed this season having played under the guise of Pinchbeck United in the past. They presently have a 100% record in the newly formed Spalding League with a goal difference of plus 50.  Anyone drawing them in the last eight need to be more than wary of them as, on this occasion, it is believed that they fielded no less than nine of their United Counties League side, and they are certainly a force to be reckoned with and without doubt they will be one of the favourites to lift the trophy this time round. Going forward they proved far too good for the Meg defence and they took the lead inside the opening 10 minutes. By the break they had added 3 more as they had Meg chasing shadows for much of the time with their crisp passing.  They added a fifth after just 2 minutes of the restart and although Meg never gave up they were second best on the day. The nearest they got to a goal was when Jake Thorpe saw his 35 yard effort strike the bar on the hour.

Jock Mitchell Memorial Trophy Round 2

Fox & Hounds FC 3

Turks Head 3

After extra time – Fox & Hounds FC won 8-7 on penalties

After a run of disappointing results Fox and Hounds FC were keen to turn things round and progress to the next round of the cup. The opening half was an end to end affair with both teams threatening and playing good football. Turks Head opened the scoring and were 1-0 up at half time.

The second half continued as the first ended, a thoroughly end to end game with both teams threatening. Fox and Hounds managed to get the equaliser, the goal coming from Matthew Bone firing home from a corner that was headed on to him. The game continued end to end with Fox and Hounds seeing more of the ball but Turks Head still carried a threat whenever they ventured forward. The home side then took the lead, again from a set piece, this time John Marklew scoring a header from Daniel Barnes’s brave flick on, unfortunately injuring himself in the process.

With the minutes ticking away the visitors threw the kitchen sink at Fox and Hounds FC and the win looked to be slipping away. The visitors pushed up for one last attack and they equalised when a shot cruelly deflected off the Fox and Hounds FC Centre back Neil Hewlett, ending up in the back of the net, taking the game into extra time.

With their tails up Turks Head had the better of the opening half of extra time and their first attack resulted in a highly contentious moment in the game. A shot came in from the visitors which the home keeper managed to keep out but the visitors thought that the ball had crossed the line but the important man, the referee, was having none of it. The pressure continued from Turks Head and they dealt the first blow by scoring a third goal to take a 3-2 lead at the end of the first half of extra time.

With nothing to lose Fox and Hounds came out and they managed to find an extra gear with a quick attacking move. The ball was played up the left wing and crossed in by Matthew Bone. The keeper and defender both missed the ball under pressure from James Parkinson and he managed to nip round the keeper and put the ball in to the back of the net to square the game again.

The rest of extra time was end to end with both teams having chances, but 3-3 was a fair reflection of a well-played and clean match between two teams keen to progress to the next round.

Both teams scored from their first 4 penalties with neither keeper able to make a decisive save. The penalty scorers for Fox and Hounds were Matthew Bone, Jack Fryer, Adam Foxon, and Matt Garner.

The game was won for Fox & Hounds FC when Chris Moulds stepped up to calmly slot the ball home before Fox keeper pulled off the final save to see his team progress to the next round of the competition.

The Blue Lion FC 0

Wragby FC 15

The Blue Lion were disappointed with their overall performance in this game as their recent performances had given them hope of less heavy defeats than they were to suffer in this game. After a good performance in their previous game they found themselves missing 9 players from that game which they found to be disappointing. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the playing records of these teams this season, it was the visitors who controlled the whole game and who played well throughout. Blue Lion were full of praise for their opponents for the way in which they were respectful of their hosts and described them as a pleasure to play against whilst being disappointed with the score line at the end of the game. The referee, Mr Marriott also warrants a mention for his consistency and good handling of the game throughout.

Division Two

Waddington United came away from their game against Newton United  Reserves with just a point as they let a two goal lead slip away in the last 15 minutes.

They started well as a Max Heath header and a Danny Hunt effort put them 2 goals up inside 20 minutes. Newton pulled one back but Shane O’ Boyle’s long range shot restored 2 goal advantage.

In the second half Waddington missed opportunities to increase their lead and they were made to pay for this as goals on 75 minutes and 87 minutes gave Newton a share of the points in an entertaining draw.

Ian Stephenson