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Lion - Subsidiary Junior Cup (22/04/2007) 2006 - 2007 Season, Afc Hithercroft  Afc Hithercroft went to the Red Lion ground with an enormous challenge ahead, not only to win the game but to win by 7 clear goals to go through into the semi-finals of the Subsidiary Junior Cup on ‘goals scored’. The weather was sunny and warm but the pitch was hard with fairly long grass, and sloped from one end to the other. The referee was Mr J. Bird and Pat ran the line for Hithercroft. The game kicked off at 10.32am with Hithercroft playing downhill and with the sun behind them. In the 9th minute Kevin Howell collected the ball on the right and ran into the 18-yard box where he was tripped and Mr Bird pointed towards the penalty spot. Kevin required treatment before Frank Smith converted from the spot, hitting the ball into the top left-hand corner of the net to put Hithercroft into the lead. On 14 minutes Kevin Howell took the ball downfield and took a shot that was deflected round the post by the Red Lion keeper. Four minutes later the home team made an early substitution replacing their No.5 by No.14. In the 28th minute Red Lion took a throw-in on the right and sent the ball to Tom Roper, the captain for the day, who turned at the edge of the 18-yard box and struck the ball inside the left-hand post to level the score. Four minutes later Hithercroft were back in the lead when the Red Lion keeper failed to gather the ball and Kevin took the ball to the left of the keeper and sent it, from an acute angle, into the far side of the net. In the 41st minute Kevin had to leave the field, being unable to run-off a pulled leg muscle, and John Baldock went on to replace him. At 11.25am the second half began with Hithercroft changing to a 5-3-2 formation in an attempt to get the goals that they required. Red Lion had made a substitution at the interval, replacing their No.10 by Duane Carr. Six minutes into the half John sent a superbly directed and weighted ball through the Red Lion defence for Frank to collect but Frank’s shot was deflected over the crossbar. In the 54th minute the home team came close to scoring with two shots, the first being blocked and the second rebounding from the left-hand post. Three minutes later Frank collected the ball in the middle and hit a shot into the Red Lion net to put Hithercroft 3-1 ahead. On 65 minutes Mike Baldock went on to replace Kevin Midgley for Hithercroft. Three minutes later the Red Lion's No.7 evaded three tackles, pushed the ball through to their No.15 who, in turn, went round opposing players before hitting a shot just wide of the left-hand post. In the 83rd minute the Red Lion No.7, who had played extremely well, was helped from the field with a knee injury and was unable to return during the rest of the game. Three minutes into added time Duane Carr took the ball past a Hithercroft defender and the advancing keeper before slotting the ball just inside the left-hand post to give Red Lion their second goal. However, within 60 seconds Hithercroft had come back when the ball was played through to Mike, who then took it forward and struck the ball into the left-hand side of the net to bring the score-line to 4-2 shortly before the final whistle. Some of the Hithercroft players were well-below par, lacking the confidence, sharpness and desire to win. As a result of this score-line Hithercroft Res (Divn 3) will go into the semi-finals to play Cross Keys (Divn 5) and the other semi-final will be between Three Horseshoes (Divn 3) and Happy Union (Divn 5).
Red Lion scorers: Tom Roper (28m), Duane Carr (93m) |
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