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Photos: Tom Wooldridge
After a goalless sixty minutes of few chances and little action, Langwith knocked James 2nds out of the competition on penalties, as Kris Cheshire made two fantastic saves in the shootout, to set up a semi-final clash with Wentworth 2nds.
Both teams started cautiously, and the first chance was made by Langwith when a typical Will Prescott long throw caused confusion in the James defence, before finally being cleared off the line. Langwith then had an appeal for a penalty turned down when a Luke Gardener cross hit a James body, but the weak appeal was rightly turned down by the referee. The heavens soon opened up as the game turned into a scrappy affair with both teams cancelling each other out in the midfield. There was nothing special until the final few moments of the half, when a low shot by Ferrao was easily saved by Langwith goalkeeper Kris Cheshire.
The second half started slowly but soon picked up tempo as both the sides decided to press for victory. Langwith had a super chance when Andy Doyle played James MacDonald clear but MacDonald’s weak shot was easily saved by James keeper Kirkwood. Langwith went close again when Andy Hutt’s shot from 20 yards out skimmed the outside of the post. Langwith created some good chances in the final 10 minutes as Kirkwood once again denied MacDonald, making a top notch save after he was played in by Gardener. Langwith went close again as another Prescott long throw was cleared off the line. James almost nicked it at the end when a mistake by Bruce Starkey let Taylor in but he could only hit the side netting, meaning that the game remained goalless and went into penalties.
Both the sides converted their first two penalties but then Langwith found themselves ahead after Briars’ shot was saved by Cheshire’s feet and Matt Jones converted his kick. However there was more drama right at the end when James MacDonald shot his penalty straight at Kirkwood who saved comfortably, taking the game into sudden death.
However only one sudden death kick was needed, as Langwith scored and Cheshire saved the corresponding James’ kick from Angel Sahi, to send the Langwith team and support into raptures. Langwith captain Andy Hutt was obviously pleased with the result as well as the performance, and felt that the game could have been wrapped up in 60 minutes, but the win on penalties against one of the stronger sides in the competition would boost the team’s confidence and hold them in good stead for the future games. James stand-in captain Hyde felt that his team matched Langwith and were solid but didn’t create enough chances.
Vision MotM: Kris Cheshire