Development A team through to cup final!!!

Photos- (top)- James Glen who had a match winning game in the centre of defence. (Middle) - The men in charge - Steve Chappell (left) and manager Joe "Daggers" Riley. (bottom photo - James Turner who had a top class game in midfield.

Colchester & East Essex Cup semi-final - Saturday May 7th 2011

Brantham 1 Clacton United Reserves

The Brantham Development A team, superbly led by Joe "Daggers" Riley and Steve Chappell made it through to the cup final at the weekend beating Clacton United Reserves 1-0. There was a decent crowd, of which I would think at least 80% were cheering the Brantham team on, at the University ground. We had the first real chance when a good move from midfield set Ross Cooper off towards goal and from just inside the area he hit a good shot on the run that the Clacton keeper did well to tip over the bar for a corner. Minutes later at the other end we took the lead. Arron Hall hade made ground after a good through ball and Arron was pushed in the back by a defender and the referee pointed to the spot. Up stepped Josh Mann, taking his time, before hammering the ball home into the far corner of the net. 1-0. Clacton hit back almost straight away and only a great clearing header from James Glen denied Clacton the chance to hit back. We came back into the game with Stuart McPharland playing the ball through James Turner who hit it first time only to see it beat the keeper but go just wide. The same man then ran at the Clacton defence and went past two defenders before shooting at goal from distance. We had a bit of a scare just prior to the break when the ball was played towards the edge of the Brantham area and it turned into a race as to who could reach it first, the Clacton forward or our goalkeeper Tom Williams, and luckily it was Tom who made it and cleared the ball just as the Clacton man got to it, certainly Tom's clearance stopped what was a certain goalscoring chance for the Clacton side- phew! Half time - Brantham 1 Clacton Utd Reserves 0. The second half started after Joe's and Steve's half time talk with us again running at the Clacton team and in the first attack Josh Mann did the hard work and laid the ball into the path of Ross Cooper who saw his first time shot on the run go just the wrong side of the upright. The Clacton number 9 was a handful to say the least and he was looking dangerous on his runs into our area but James Glenn and Simon King were doing a good job of policing him. A great ball into the Clacton area saw both Alex Stocker and Ross Cooper run in but they were both just beaten to the ball by an alert Clacton custodian. With time starting to run out Clacton were prepared to push more men forward and this gave our front men that bit more of a breathing space and time to run at the Clacton goal. Despite this fact it was Clacton who had the next best chance when a forward broke through and rode two tackles, one of which drove him almost to the line, and despite team mates calling for the ball in the middle he tried a shot from an awkward angle which clipped the post. Goalscorer Josh Mann then received a bad knock to his ankle and had to come off, to a lot of applause from the Brantham supporters I might add, and he was replaced at the front by Rob Fairweather. It was Rob who was the next to try his luck after the ball had been played out wide to him and he cut inside and sent in a great cross which the keeper did well to tip over for another corner. With time running out, and with all Brantham supporters urging the referee to blow for full time, the Clacton side made one last great push to grab the equaliser. The ball was played into the Brantham area and during a bit of a goalmouth scramble the ball bobbled and just as a forward to was looking to hit it home up stepped James Glen with a huge clearance which denied them Clacton the chance to get even. After the match Joe "Daggers" Riley and Steve Chappell were full of praise for the team, who ALL played their part in a great result. The team were cheered off by a good crowd of Brantham supporters and we are all looking forward to the final in a couple of weeks time- see you there!! Once again on behalf of the team and club the thanks of the team for the great support from all of the people who made the journey, including the Chairman, Vice Chairman, Tony Hall, Colin Grogan and players,parents and everybody supporting Brantham who made their presence felt!

---barry felgate--