WE BOOK OUR PLACE IN THE FINAL

We can look forward to a Cup Final in the Herts Charity Shield after a tense and dramatic ending to this close match. In the dying embers of this game we spurned the chance to win in normal time after we missed a penalty, but any fears that this could be a bad omen for the penalty shoot out were soon dispelled after Jamie Ovington, Lee Stobbs, Max Hercules and Greg Deer kept their nerve to produce perfect finishes to win the day.

In the Final (date to be determined) we will meet our old foes Oxhey Jets who beat Colney Heath 3-2 in their semi-final. Jets now play in Division 1 of the Cherry Reds Combined Counties League and presently occupy a mid-table position and they will be a tough side to beat.

This will be our 3rd cup final in 3 years and our 6th appearance in the Herts Charity Shield final, having won it 3 times. Our last appearance in the final was in 2016/17 when we lost 3-2 to Berkhamsted and our side that day included Ryan Sturges, Dave O’Connor, George Carbery and Lee Stobbs. Berkhamsted 92nd minute winner was scored by a certain Josh Chamberlain.

We got off to a superb start in this game when after only 8 minutes Max Hercules took advantage of a mix up in the opposition defence over a long hopefully ball to score. Score 1-0. We were playing some good football and Jack Harvey did well to win a tackle and then find George Carbery who back heeled the ball into the path of Max Hercules who unfortunately smashed his shot over the bar. In the 25th minute it looked like Max headed in a corner to the near post but evidently the ball came off a defender but in any event the Referee disallowed the goal due to an infringement on the keeper.

After a slow start the opposition started to come to life and they played some neat and attractive football creating a good chance when a cross to the far post was slotted wide by Abdullah Javaid. On the half hour mark Baldock equalised when we failed to clear a long cross field pass allowing Owen Robertson to run through unmarked and smartly score. Score 1-1.

George Carbery managed to wriggle himself free on the opposition’s bye line and his cross nearly led to an own goal. Soon afterwards Dave O’Connor saw his flicked header from a Lee Stobbs free kick go just wide of the post. Our opponents were seeing a lot of the ball and their number 10 Javaid smashed a shot just over the bar.

After a great start our opponents did well to come back into the game and they deserved to be on level terms at the break. HT Score 1-1.

Our opponents were looking dangerous and Josh Ameganyi had to get down quickly to save a super long range shot. A defensive error in the 66th minute led to a penalty for Baldock which Kieron Barnes converted to put his side in the lead for the first time. Score 1-2.

We responded by stepping up our game and we thought we should have had a penalty when Adam Sawyer appeared to be fouled in the area but our appeals were turned down. With 10 minutes left Lee Stobbs produced a sumptuous cross which Josh Chamberlain headed powerfully past the keeper to level the scores. Score 2-2.

We had a chance to clinch the win three minutes into injury time when we were awarded a penalty and although the keeper made a great save from Josh Chamberlain it made no difference as our prowess in the penalty shootout saw us through to the final.

Team: Josh Ameganyi, Harry Jones (Jamie Ovington 84), Adam Sawyer, Harrison Cornick, Dave O’Connor, Frankie Hercules (Harry Shepherd 59), Lee Stobbs, Jack Harvey (Noah Butler 69), George Carbery (Capt) (Greg Deer 69)), Max Hercules, Guiseppe Delgaudio (Josh Chamberlain 69).

Goals:

TA: Max Hercules (8), Josh Chamberlain (80)

BT: Owen Robinson (30), Kieron Barnes (66)

Pens: BT TA
G Jamie Ovington G
G Lee Stobbs G
G Max Hercules G
X Greg Deer G
X

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