Woodley Kestrels 0 vs. Binfield 2

The cup semi-final saw Binfield arrive with a hope if not a real expectation of making it to the final. The opposition, Woodley Kestrels were in 4^th place in the first division with games in hand to go second. They had only lost once all season and probably were happiest of the semi-finalists with the draw.

The venue was High Farringdon School, Reading. A neutral venue (Eldon’s home ground) was selected and it certainly did not give either team anything. The pitch was more like a village green, lines unmarked and the goals were at an angle that resembled those more of a certain tower in Italy than anything from Reading.

A near full squad was available and the team selected was to get us to the final. As in the quarter finals, if the game was close, then substitutions were only to be made in the event of injury.

Training had been focused on nullifying the key players and Lewis and Dan had been assigned man-marking roles with Robbie Rumble playing as sweeper.

The opening 20 minutes saw Binfield set their stall out. Binfield marked their men, harried and got their tackles in quick and strong. The threat down the middle was nullified as Lewis and Dan picked up their men and Robbie Rumble was calm and composed as he cleared anything that got through. Simmo and Chris battled for everything on the ground.

On the flanks, Byron & Simon combined well on the left. On the right, Sam continued his run of good form and George worked tirelessly up and down. Up front, Joshua Tighe fought a valiant lone battle for everything that came his way.

Nick in goal was extremely assured as he collected everything. One long range effort was deflected of the head of Lewis and Nick managed to quickly adjust and hold on to the well struck shot.

It was all very close.

After 25 minutes a high ball up the middle from the back was challenged by Simmo. The defender led with his harm but the ref played advantage as the ball fell to Chris. His first-time shot flew high up an over the keeper to give Binfield an unexpected lead. 0-1

Simon’s confidence has been buoyed recently by the interest of Brentford and a feature of his game has been his dead-ball kicks. It was he who delivered a free-kick awarded on the right which deserved to be headed in for a second.

The stunned Kestrels increased their efforts and pushed for an equaliser. But Binfield matched them all the way and got through to half time with the lead intact.

Half time 0-1.

The game was tight and the advantage so small that changes to the side could not be considered.

The Second half started with the same intensity as the first: The battle for midfield resumed, the defence holding the Kestrels forwards at bay and Joshua Tighe as the lone attacker. 

One goal was never going to be enough and as the game wore on, the nerves were going to be stretched tighter than the strings on a Dixieland banjo. Binfield needed a second. And they didn't have to wait long before it came

It was Joshua who won a corner for us. The Kestrels defence doubled up on him to knock the ball out for a corner. Simon lined up the ball and delivered a superb ball right into the danger zone on the 6 yard box. Lewis running in met the ball square-on to head the ball firmly down low past the keeper and into the net. The victory dance on the pitch was only matched by that of the spectators on the side-line.  0-2

There were 25 minutes to go and enough time for Kestrels to still take the tie. They certainly increased the pace and pushed forward. Their back line was reduced to just 2 as they moved to a 3 man attack. The pressure mounted as Kestrels strove to get back a goal. The threat was evident as they hit the post. Nick was kept on his toes but never really challenged until with 10 minutes left, he managed to get finger tips to a long range effort and divert it onto the bar.

The next 5 minutes saw corner after corner but still the defence held firm with Robbie winning nearly everything in the air. The only respites when Joshua managed to get on the end of desperate clearances to take the ball up-field.

The final minutes were played in the Woodley half as Binfield defended their position. Indeed Binfield had further chances to score again. But in the end the final whistle was greeted with cheers from players and supporters.

Full time: 0-2

Going into the game the view was that 9 times out of 10. Kestrels would win. But if we battled from the start and maintained our discipline, maybe we had a chance. Well this was all turned on its head and on the day Binfield were the better team and thoroughly deserved the win.

This was the performance we had been waiting for all season. We had showed that we could deliver for half the game, but this time we did so for the whole game.

No-one wants to lose in a semi-final. The objective of the day was to win and to get the team to a final where we can all take part. This we did, and a special thanks to the lads who made themselves available for the day but did not take part.

On a day of surprises in other cup competitions, one was sprung here today. We now face Eldon Celtics in the final on April 26^th with nothing to lose. It has been a squad effort to get us this far and it will be squad effort on the day with all boys taking part.

Binfield 1st Half  line-up:   Runham              Haywood         Rumble    Perry Sumner     Dowling                        Simmonds         Bardon (c)         C Edwards  S Edwards        Tighe

Binfield 2nd Half  line-up:

Runham              Haywood         Rumble    Perry Sumner     Dowling                        Simmonds         Bardon (c)         C Edwards  S Edwards         Tighe
Scorer(s):	C Edwards, Haywood
Man of the Match	Haywood
Captain's Corner Greetings everyone, this is your very very proud captain speaking!!! On Saturday we were nothing but outstanding and our play was exceptional. I am sure that if we are all honest we had a niggle of a doubt that maybe this was not to be our day when we all opened our eyes first thing on Saturday Morning, but how wrong we were. I have been writing in many captain's corners that the key is concentration and above all team work, including determination, skill (which we have all got), passion and the will to win. For the first week since the start of the season all these qualities were displayed and we WON!!! It would be extremely unfair to mention single players this week as we as a team deserve it, and I hope you will all understand this. We set out to do a job done it well. There were times during the match where the Woodley players were becoming frustrated as I did feel that they could have been a bit on the co placement side at the start of the match and things just were not going their way. Again, we kept our cool and concentration and battled on even when we were 2 - 0 up which is what we always need to do. Parents and supporters, A REALLY BIG THANK YOU from myself and all the team. I had written in last weeks log a request to give us an extra loud cheer which you may not have seen due to problems with the team website. However, you were awesome and we appreciate that!! We now have to focus 100 per cent on the league for the forthcoming weeks and take a lot out of Saturdays match with us, if we can beat Woodley like we did we should win games in the league. I am convinced that we can go up as champions, we just need to put in the work rate we did on Saturday. We face Reeves this week who will be just as hungry and wanting the 3 points as us, lets take control of the game and take the points for Binfield. Eleven voices need to be heard on the pitch on Saturday. Looking forward to seeing you all then. Just one more thing, Thanks to Leighton, Steve and my Dad Mick for their hard work, without them we wouldn't be where we are now. Cheers Skipper Dan.