Under 15 LFA Semi-Final Report - By Ian Peters, Assistant Manager

A cold but bright morning at kidbrooke playing fields for the long awaited semi final of the London Cup against Ryan FC from Chingford. The referee and linesman gave the all clear for the game to commence even though in some areas of the pitch was still frozen. The boys had a tough task on their hands with the knowledge that Ryan FC had beaten Glebe (Kent) in the quarter finals 5-0, so everyone knew they had to dig in.

With the game under way and kicking downhill the boys all battled really hard and didn't give Ryan FC any time to settle on the ball. Reece Mannion (weeman) worked tirelessly tracking back to stick with their No12 who posed a real threat down the right wing. Tommy Gaish and Kayis Derbel (the engine room) battled for everything in midfield and cancelled out any form of attack that Ryan FC could muster. Casey Dabner filling in at right back had a cracking first half keeping their left winger in his pocket.
Tom Batchelor solid as ever cleared everything that was thrown at him. We battled really hard but didn't produce anything in the final third of the pitch so at half time we came in a very well deserved 0-0.

Mannion gave way to Shahid Kasako and Abu Kamara came off and was replaced by Alex Orphanou. With the second half underway the boys kept battling and pressing and their efforts were rewarded when some great possession and ball play saw the ball break from Sam Taylor into the path of the drift king Sean Bresnahan with the ball close to his feet he fired a low shot passed the keeper.
 
Just approaching the quarter of an hour mark some neat footwork from Captain Gaish saw him shimmy past 2 defenders and curled a sweet left foot shot inside the keepers right hand post giving him no chance 2-0. With 20 minutes left Ryan FC pulled a goal back and things became very tense.
 
Sam Taylor sustained a very nasty injury when his foot got stuck in the mud as he tried to turn and had to leave the field. Nigel Ncube came on and the team had to be re shuffled. 5 minutes to go and Ryan FC pressing hard. Corner came over and we didn't deal with it and they equalised 2-2.
 
With barely a minute left another corner for Ryan FC and the ball was in the back of the net only to be disallowed for a push on one of our defenders.Into extra time. Still battling hard and the boys running on empty, a run by Batchelor from the half way line down the left hand side of the pitch saw him run past 3 defenders and fire a low hard shot into the corner of the net, again giving the keeper no real chance of saving. 

The game seemed to become stretched and Kamara who came back on for the injured Orphanou used his pace to his advantage and could have put us even further ahead. Some excellant saves from Nick Wren throughout the match really kept us in it. Final score 3-2 after extra time.

A fantastic effort by everyone in the team and a very proud day for us all.