Ron Eaglen Cup Round One
Coningsby FC 1-1 Trent Valley FC (after extra time). Coningsby won 4-1 on penalties
Coningsby went into the game knowing that nothing short of maximum effort would be required, if they were to get anything from the game against the Division one leaders.
The match was end to end during the first half with both teams applying pressure for stages, but not really resulting in much as both defences stood firm.
The second half was played out much the same way as the first, with the visitors starting to dominate the ball in the later stages but Coningsby’s defence held out to take the game to extra time. The 90 minutes ended with both sides showing plenty of endeavour but neither able to find that all elusive winning goal.
The extra time period started and within two minutes Ben Brown, Coningsby’s Captain, led by example by sliding in to win the ball on the half way line before playing a perfect through ball down the heart of the valley defence for striker Charlie Stapleton to run onto the ball before going one on one with the keeper. He then slotted the ball calmly into the bottom corner to give his side the lead.
As Valley pushed for an equaliser Coningsby managed to counter and they spurned a couple of good positions and efforts that they would soon regret. No more so than in the last minute of the game when Valley attacked and equalised after home keeper Chris Jones fumbled the ball into the feet of a Valley attacker who was then able to pass the ball into the empty net. Final score 1-1.
The drama of penalties then infolded and the scoring went as follows:
Ben Brown took the first penalty slotting home from the spot.
1-0
Valley midfielder smashed the ball against the crossbar.
1-0
Stuart Thomson stepped up and placed the ball just out of reach of the Valley keeper.
2-0
Valley striker rifled the ball home giving the Coningsby keeper no chance.
2-1
Andy Wyre scored in the bottom right.
3-1
Wanting to make up for his fumble that took the game to penalties, Chris Jones made a great save to deny Valley’s third penalty.
3-1
Charlie Stapleton ran up and smashed the ball straight down the middle to make it 4-1 and take Coningsby through to the next round.
Old Boys United 4-1 AFC West End
Old Boys’ entertained AFC West End in this prestigious competition and it was the home side, courtesy of Adam Gardiner, who took the lead as he converted from the penalty spot. They continued to attack forcing two spectacular saves from the West End keeper, first making a save from a Mark Hodges shot and with the rebound falling to Jack Thompson who looked certain to score but the keeper was there again. Unfortunately for him Jack Hobson was in the right place at the right time to tap in Old Boys’ second, Josh Gannon made it 3-0 after leaping like a salmon and putting his head on the end of a Dave Skelding cross and it didn’t take long before Mark Hodges made it 4-0 to the home side.
AFC West End came out for the second half and they took the game to Old Boys. They were rewarded with a goal to reduce the arrears as the game ended 4-1 to the hosts.
Metheringham FC 1-4 New Swan FC after extra time
This game was one of just two All-Premier Division ties in this round of the competition. Both sides have had indifferent starts to the season and this showed in the early exchanges as neither side could control, retain or pass the ball. Half chances were created but missed by both sides until the 21st minute when a long ball down field was gathered by Joe Smith and he played it to the edge of the box for Jayden Driver to drill home inside the post to put the hosts ahead.
This saw Meg in the ascendancy but with just three minutes of the half left New Swan were gifted an equaliser out of nothing. From a counter-attack the ball was knocked in from the left and in truth should have been gather by keeper Wayne Greaves but he allowed it to go across him, finding a Swan attacker on the right. Greaves then attempted to close him down but the ball was knocked back across the goal for a simple tap in by Will Halton. Things were to then go from bad to worse for Meg a minute later when referee Mark Thompson ruled that central defender Matt Robinson was ‘last man’ when he made a challenge and he was shown a red card.
Before the restart of the second half Meg then lost Jake Thorpe through illness but despite being a man short they were well up for the challenge as the game ebbed and flowed. On the hour Meg thought they had gone ahead but Ben Garrick’s point blank header was brilliantly saved by Swan keeper Ben Tonks. Before the 90 minutes had elapsed Swan also saw a couple of golden chances go begging.
Going into extra time it was still nip and tuck but then on 102 minutes Tom Scutt gave Swan the lead with a simple close range header from another piece of poor defending by Meg. Before the end Swan added two more goals to their total to the give the result a false reflection on the game as a whole.
Railway Inn United 3-1 Welton FC
The game started with Railway pretty much on top against their higher division opponents without them really creating much. This was until Kyle Paul put Matt Clark through with a pin point pass which he rifled into the bottom corner to give the home side the lead. The visitors subsequently missed some very good opportunities, along with the home keeper making some fantastic saves which ensured that the game remained at 1-0 until a ball through to Chris Boulter put Railway away again. He produced nice pass into Matt Clark who finished calmly to the keeper’s left to make it 2 0. Welton did manage to get a goal back before half time thanks to a penalty.
Railway made sure of their passage into the next round of the cup when a Kyle Paul corner was met by a bullet header from a Welton defender. All in all this was a good day for, and a good performance from, the lower league team.
St Helens FC 0-3 Ruston Sports FC
This game was a good battle on Skellingthorpe Road between two sides who produced some good football throughout.
St Helens began the brighter of the two sides and a ball over the top caught the Ruston’s backline napping with the home side’s striker missing the target when clean through. Ruston’s started to get a foothold in the game and they made the breakthrough after 20 minutes when a Jamie Earls corner picked out Vincent Van Doninck with the big Belgian powering the ball home. The rest of the half was fairly scrappy with both teams enjoying plenty of the ball but creating very little.
The second half began with a fine save from the St Helens keeper before the home side responded with Timmie Mann clearing off the line to prevent the equaliser.
St Helens pushed more men on but they were punished when a swift breakaway down the Ruston’s left by Van Doninck resulted in him finding Timmie Mann at the back post to double the visitor’s lead. A third goal was then added when Timmie Mann broke down the Ruston’s right and his cross found Sean Melton who turned home to secure Ruston’s passage into the last 16 of the competition.
Ruston’s man of the match was Vincent Van Doninck with Timmie Mann a close second.
Division Two
Waddington United 1-0 Lincoln High Street FC
Waddington finally got their 2017-18 League campaign under way with a hard fought 1-0 victory over a very capable Lincoln High Street side. Both sides played some excellent football in the opening 45 minutes but it was a close range effort by Ross Dalton that was the difference between the two sides at half time.
In the second half High Street pressed hard for an equaliser whilst Waddington looked to increase their advantage but to no avail. The points were secured thanks to an incredible double save by Waddington keeper Dave Kirkbright in the dying minutes to thwart High Street in a game well controlled by Referee Dan Woolley.
This result sees Waddington leap from bottom to fifth in the Division in the space of 90 minutes of football.
Division Four
The Blue Lion 2 – 3 Metheringham Reserves
This game turned out to be a very close game which saw the Lions fall just short of a draw against Metheringham Reserves.
Metheringham started the better side by far with a host of chances narrowly missing. After plenty of chances Meg finally broke the deadlock with a good finish. After a sudden burst of life from the Lions they found their equaliser after Harry Maszr chased the ball down and placed it past the goalkeeper to enable the sides to go into the break all square.
Into the second half and the game started as a much tighter game as the Lions came out playing some excellent football. The game started with end to end play from both teams and both should be credited for their creativity.
The Lions were the first to concede in the half after giving the ball away near their own box and Metheringham took their chance well. The game continued to be very close and the Lion’s keeper made an unfortunate error by giving the ball to the Metheringham forward who then placed it well into the goal.
The home side did not give up and eventually found the net again when Richard Wood scored directly from a corner kick. Quite how this happened is a talking point but he will claim he meant it. At this stage of the game it was now all Lions football as they pressed and pressed for that equaliser, going close on several occasions as well as making the Metheringham goalkeeper to make some great saves.
But the Lions fell short for time as when a goal seemed to be on the horizon the full time whistle was blown. All credit to Metheringham Reserves who defended well at the end of the game keeping the lead that they had earned. A special mention must go to young referee Mr Stent who was commanding and really took charge of the game. On this performance he showed tremendous potential for the future.
Ian Stephenson