Turned Up Too Late

En route to winning the league our fixture list was rarely interrupted and we put a fantastic run together that saw us crowned Champions in the middle of February. Since then games have totally dried up with only 1 outing in the best part of 2 months heading into this 1/2 final against Abbey Rangers. With that said I wouldn't change a thing, but the Cups have played second fiddle.

It's fair to say that the lack of match practice did play a part in what was a woeful first 45 minutes with our touch and passing miles off our usual standard, but ultimately we were undone by our disregard of doing the basics. Marking, tracking runs, staying in shape, working hard for each other and managing the game - all out the window. This is something we have been excellent at all season, but in this cup run we have turned in two halves of shocking play. We got away with it against Worplesdon, but not this time as Abbey raced into a 3-0 lead at the interval.

We managed to make it to the 30 minute mark before a great strike gave Abbey a deserved lead. They were working extremely hard off the ball. Too hard in fact. We knew from the sidelines that it was not sustainable, but we gave away 2 more poor goals before half-time when all we needed to do was keep it tight and ride the storm.

Only Sam Lant for his effort and Ryan Pardo-Roques for a couple of saves (one a top class reaction from a header) emerged from the half with any credit. Oli and Matt tore into the team at half-time and the response was instant.

We dominated the second half pretty much from the start, creating chances at regular intervals. Luca Mortellaro gave us hope just after the hour mark, finishing well from Simon Grout's lay off after Tom Frost had crashed a brilliant effort onto the bar in the build up.

Abbey were now clinging on desperately, but we didn't get the 2nd goal until 12 minutes remained as Oli glanced in Luca's set piece.

From here we through everything we had at Abbey, who became a big threat on the counter as we chucked bodies forward. Despite some very good chances this was Abbey's morning and another 1/2 final exit for us as they held on. We probably deserved to get it to extra-time, but ultimately you can't play like we did in the first half and expect to come out of it unscathed. We showed at least a sample of what we are about in the second half.

This was slightly easier to take given we have ended our trophy drought, but it does feel like an opportunity lost nonetheless. A very disappointing morning, but it won't take any gloss off the season we are having and there's still a competition to play for.

MoM: Luca - two subs changed our performance. Luca got a goal and an assist, but also caused Abbey lots of problems. Big mention here for Grouty too who was nowhere near fit, but gave us 40 minutes and was key to the improvement in the second half.

Huge thanks to those who came down to support and apologies to Baulds for not getting on.

Thanks to Abbey for their hospitality and best wishes to them in the final.