We know Elmstead pretty well now and definitely owed them a game after they beat us earlier in the season when we had one of our off days . Roosters are a fairly strong team with a couple of useful players but nothing our boys can't handle and as it goes for getting the ball down and playing the game the right way our boys are miles in front. With both teams having full squads and unchanged line ups it was all to familiar and when our boys were playing it out from the back in the opening minutes and getting no joy it felt just like going to be one of those days again. Rory was the busiest keeper in the first half , he had to be alert and brave several occasions from corners and got down well to pick up any loose balls in the melee . It felt like we was playing on the break at times because when we got the ball hustled off us whilst trying to play it out we was immediately on the back foot , Nathan cleared the ball away effectively after reading the danger and all our efforts to get the ball to feet and play a short give and go was becoming more and more unrealistic as the half went on . Eventually Elmstead broke the deadlock from a very unfortunate piece of defending, it couldn't be helped but was agonising as the corner ball came off one of our heads and crept into the far post .
Despite the struggle to put any decent moves together we was still fine and competitive acroos the whole pitch , Luke marking their main right winger put a good shift in , and Jack and Ben both doing the same on the other wing when they rotated there. Nathan was kept busy and showed himself as an option whenever our widemen got the ball which was great to see. The only other option was down the line and a very busy Nicholas was making the runs we told him to and Finn trying to shrug off the imposing centre midfielder was now getting into the game, with his counterpart Jackson holding in the middle of the park. The problem we had was our main football was being played in our own half and not enough at all to trouble the Roosters which now looking back and as the last 5 minutes of the game proved we should have set ourselves up a bit better to influence that. A structured move starting from Luke on the left who fed Finn inside who then found Ben on the right to gain a free kick from being pulled back resulted in a lovely delivery by Finn right into the danger area finding Nicholas who side volleyed it beautifully into the back of the net . We now had the momentum and a few minutes later again from the right hand side Jack put a decent cross to the far post and Ben scraped the post , so close to take the lead . After a bit of a last five minute ding dong of the half , Finn had a decent shot just go over the bar and us having to defend more corners ,we was pleased to get the boys in for a well earnt rest and a chat .

The majority of the second half was just plain unlucky and very annoying, we could all see what the boys were trying to do but for some reason it just wasn't happening and we was looking really exposed at the back , I felt for Nathan , and then Max when he was the lone figure there. Jackson got busier and busier as the game went on through the middle but our downfall was from the back to our widemen , sloppy control or taking too long on the ball or a wayward pass proved costly as the Roosters pounced and from 3 half efforts at our our goal from a long way out managed to find the net with a couple of lucky deflections and after a good save from Rory the ball fell to the unmarked Elmstead striker, 4 1 ....really !!!! The sun was shining and conditions near perfect but the scoreline was a tragedy and injustice and was really hard to take , the fact we really had no other ideas to get back into the game with 10 minutes to go Dan and myself couldn't help but think we could lose this badly from here.

Our boys felt the same anger but instead of crying about it they rolled their sleeves up and gave it a real go to get back into this final, massive applause and admiration lads. Jack now on the right and Ben on the left with Nicholas hustling for the ball up top we actually started moving it about better . Max and Jackson won every tackle and second ball and healthy possession was in and around the oppositions box . Roosters went long most of the game but we was now the ones winning it and switching it wide quicker than before , the ball went out to Ben who poked it inside for Jackson to pounce and take it beyond the last man and coolly and calmly hit it sweetly past the keepers right - 4 2 with 3 minutes to play. From the kick off we eventually regained possession and once again the ball was there to be won on edge of area and Nicholas aggressively got there first and smashed it into the bottom left this time , really good centre forward desire and clean finish under pressure, could there be time for the ultimate comeback....

Unfortunately not , fairy tales never happen against this lot but it was pleasing to see the Elmstead coaches have a bit of a sweat up !!

The silver cup final finished 4 3 , a scoreline that still flattered the victors even though we didn't do the basics well enough at times and our possession game was limited as we rushed rather than showed the composure we are normally very good at . No tears , no regrets but pure admiration to the lads to fight back as they did .

Man of match Nicholas for his well taken brace and dogged performance after a long lay off .