Young Ambers March on.....

Having fallen victim to the weather last week (frozen pitch) the young ambers again welcomed South Yorkshire Amateur outfit Euroglaze to Olivers Mount in the last sixteen of the Sheffield & Hallamshire Junior Cup, with a place in the quarter finals at stake.
Considering the rain that had fallen the previous few days, the bottom pitch at the Mount was in tremendous condition and the ground staff had done a good job in getting it ready.
The game got off to a good start for the visitors, who took the lead after only 5 minutes had elapsed. Having gathered the ball in the middle of the pitch, one of the Euroglaze midfielders was given the freedom of the the park to run through the middle of the pitch without challenge and slot the ball past keeper Joe Taylor. It was obviously not the start that was needed, but it did act as a wake up call for the ambers, who went straight on the attack from the restart, going close down the right side of the goal. From the resulting goal kick, the ball was won back and eased through to Will Eades, who calmly passed the ball on and into the run of Mason Gayle, who just as calmly slipped it past the advancing keeper and into the empty net after only 8 minutes.
4 minutes later, following a fantastic run down the left hand side of the pitch, Lee Betts drove the ball low into the box, which was cleared to the edge of the area, only for Kyle Lilley to latch on and return a low drive into the bottom left hand corner of the net. 2 minutes later Kyle was at it again, pressing the defender into a mistake, winning the ball and driving on towards goal. He low effort again to the left of the keeper forced a smart save.
The rest of the half passed with much to’ing and fro’ing by both teams, but neither were able to add to the scoreline.
HF: HPFC U21’s 2 v 1 Euroglaze
The second half got off to a great start, with smart play forcing a corner down the left. Jack Lenihan was asked to deliver a quality ball into the box, and for a change, he did as he was told, curling the ball straight into the far corner of the net, to put the ambers 3 – 1 up. On 48 minutes, Will Eades put a great ball into the box where Sheldon McDonald calmly slotted the ball of a gaping goal!! On 50 minutes, Lee Betts chased down a clearance, drove on and cracked the ball low and hard, but unfortunately it came back off the right hand post, a shame for ‘Bettsy’ who had a great game overall. On 52 minutes though came the strike of the game. The ball landed at the feet of Danny Wilson, who stepped inside his marker and hit the ball right on the sweet spot with his left peg and straight into the top left corner of the net. It was becoming all Handsworth, and our visitors were struggling to keep up with a relentless pace.
On 66 mins, following some impressive play, the ambers were awarded a corner on the right. Danny Wilson stepped up and drove the ball to the edge of the box to Jack Lenihan, who flicked it up and volleyed the ball home through a crowd of players, to put the amber 5 – 1 up.

On 88 mins, Euroglaze for the second time in the match were allowed to waltz through the middle of the pitch unchallenged and following a low drive, reduced the arrears to 5-2. However, the ambers weren’t done, and following the award of an injury time corner, Tyler Ledger received the ball short and put a great cross in for Will Eades to leap like a salmon and head into the net for the final goal of the game.
FT: HPFC U21 6 v 2 Euroglaze

Summary:
A steady match today from the U21s, with nobody really setting the world on fire. There still needs to be more consistency found, as the lads seem to be playing in spurts at the moment. Lapses in shape are starting to hurt us and get punished by silly goals, but allowing for that, they are still achieving the results. However, harder games are in front of us, and several now need to start realising they have to find that consistency that was blossoming earlier in the season, rather than messing around. The message is simple, start changing it up or the coaching staff will !!