Nunnery Wood Colts Thunder U9s vs Worcester City YC U9s (Vin Furlong Memorial Cup)

Worcester City Youth Colts U9s took part in an exciting cup match away from home in the Vin Furlong Memorial Cup when they visited the Nunnery Wood Colts Thunder U9s team at the University of Worcester, St Johns Campus on Saturday 23rd November 2019.

Prior to the match, Manager Steve Maitland and Captain Ethan gave a motivating speech to the rest of the team.

Team Sheet
Goal Keeper - Tom
Defenders - Joel, Ewan, Theo & Max
Midfielders - Ethan, Ethan, Toby, Hayden & Thomas
Forwards - Olly & Nathan

First Half
City started the match on the front foot and in the 4th minute had the ball in the back of the Nunnery Wood net through a superbly taken shot from Olly, he found himself with the ball on the edge of the box and his subsequent shot went past a diving Nunnery Wood keeper (that was Olly’s first goal of the season).

The remaining part of the first half saw both teams battling well, but the chances to score were limited due to some great defending from all the players on the pitch. This meant a number of players on both teams resorted to attempting long range shots, but again none found the mark.

Second Half
In a mirror image of the start of the first half, Nunnery Wood quickly made an impact on the score sheet when in the 27th minute they scored their first goal of the match to tie the score.

As in the first half, over the next 10 minutes, the match ebbed one way then the other between these evenly matched teams.

Around the 40 minute mark, City won a succession of corners but the Nunnery Wood defence held strong and City couldn’t break the deadlock.

Only a couple of minutes later and Nunnery Wood took the lead for the first time in the match when one of their players scored from a terrific long distance shot which looped over the City goal keeper and went in off the crossbar.

With less than 10 minutes left to play, City needed to rally if they wanted to progress in the cup.

Around the 45 minute mark, Thomas found himself with the ball a few metres outside of the Nunnery Wood box. A defender attempted to win the ball back, but in doing so gave away a free kick. Thomas took the free kick himself and despite a number of defenders in the wall and a diving Nunnery Wood keeper, his shot flew into the Nunnery Wood goal (that was Thomas’s fourth goal of the season).

With the game tied once more, the full time whistle blew, which meant extra time was needed to see who would make it to the semi-finals of the cup.

Extra Time First Half
The first half of extra time saw City in the ascendancy and Nunnery Wood were pinned back in their own half for most of the 5 minutes of play, but the only clear cut chances were being kept out by a Nunnery Wood goal keeper who was on excellent form.

Extra Time Second Half
Again, City were still on top and in the 57th minute, Nathan found the winner when he won the ball from a Nunnery Wood player half way between the centre circle and goal. He ran towards the Nunnery Wood box and slotted the ball into the corner of the net (that was Nathen’s seventh goal of the season).

The magic of cup football was alive and kicking in St Johns and City progress to the semi-finals.

Well played Nunnery Wood and good luck for the rest of the season. The match was watched by a few dozen respectful spectators who enjoyed an exciting game of cup football. After his great performance during the match, Joel was awarded the Captains armband for next week’s match. Thanks to all the City parents for their support on match day.