Unfortunately our cup hopes ended on Sunday with a 3-2 defeat against Simla after extra time.
The build up to the game could not have been worse with Burren, Lester and Perkins all unavailable and then losing Lawrence, McGahan and Boorman before kick off. Nevertheless, because of the depth in the squad, we were still able to field a side that we believed to be strong enough to have won the game.
Having beaten Simla three times this season already, we knew that they would be as strong as possible and really up for the game. We expected a physical game but believed that if we kept our composure and passed the ball well that we would overcome this. Unfortunately the rain became very heavy as the game progressed making good football difficult on a rapidly deteriorating pitch.
Given the conditions though it was a reasonably good game that was tight throughout and it was always likely that there would only be the odd goal in it.
Simla took the lead on thirty minutes with a deflected shot but we came back nine minutes later when Woody and Alun Evans combined to set up Peter Bukovec who hit a great shot into the bottom right hand corner from just outside the box. This seemed to deflate Simla and we seemed in control until a minute before the break when their winger got the better of Woody for the only time in half and crossed in from the bye line where another deflection took the ball beyond the Chimp.
We started the second half brightly and tried to take the game to them but were finding it difficult to string passes together in the conditions. The equaliser came in the sixty fifth minute when Barry Leete made a strong run through the midfield and played the ball into Liam Gent who, despite a strong challenge from a defender, poked the ball past the advancing keeper. Chris Ells was brought on shortly after to inject some pace down the flank and made several good runs beyond the defence, unfortunately each time the cross was blocked and cleared. Both sides were visibly tiring in the mud and the game became stretched. With extra time beckoning we had a great chance to clinch the game when Paul Emblem created space in the box, drew a defender and squared to Chris to tap home. Unfortunately, his first touch took the ball away from him and enabled the keeper to block at his feet. It was at that point that I felt that maybe it wasn't going to be our day.
Simla took the lead for the final time in the first minute of extra time when a header hit our post and their forward was on hand to tap home. To the teams credit they continued to battle to get back into the game but didn't create the clear cut chance or have that little bit of luck that was needed in the conditions to save the game. In the end Simla held out to progress into the semis. Overall a draw would have been a fair result but it wasn't to be our day.
We now need to put this disappointment behind us and use it as the spur to drive us on in the league.
Team:
L.Baker
A.Lindsey
M.Wood
N. Coxon
I. Ward