Churchill 1 Queens' 3, cup semi-final

A great day for Queens’ football!!! Reaching our first ever MCR champions’ cup final!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Churchill played their part in a very entertaining, competitive game though and we were pushed all the way in this one.
The game started well, with all our players turning up fit and ready for the game (but unfortunately no proper referee thou so we had to ref ourselves). We won the toss and chose to shoot into the wind in the first half (great advice given to me by Paul, as I had no idea what to choose given that this was the first coin toss I’d won for ages!!!). Churchill attacked us from the start, pressurising us all over the pitch and forcing us into hurried clearances and losing possession too easily. Paul got an knock on the nose which forced him into going off the pitch to get treatment to remove all the blood but he showed commitment to the cause by coming straight back onto the pitch. Unfortunately, we conceded a goal thanks to a combination of poor defensive play and the wind when a Churchill cross was turned past the despairing Dan. But after this setback, we upped our attacking and possession play, giving Churchill only a few chances on the counterattack (which were all saved excellently by Dan) and creating many more ourselves.
We equalised through Tom, after some neat buildup play (I think!) and we were right back in the game. We kept it tight for the last 10 minutes of the half as the wind was such a disadvantage that we were very happy to go into the second half level at 1-1.
The second half went exactly as planned, with the game almost totally played in Churchill half due to the wind and our prominent defensive display to cut out all the Churchill counterattacks. We created numerous opportunities and finally Tom scored his second of the game to make it 2-1. There were still 25mins of the game to go at this point, but we continued to play good football and keep possession wherever possible, and forced Churchill to lose possession with our strong midfield pressing. We were keeping the ball very well and forcing Churchill to defend constantly, and we had lots of chances to seal the game (Gustavo twice missed golden heading opportunities, and Yue had a shot cleared off the line, as well as numerous others). In the final minute, Gabriel was fouled in the box and Matt converted the penalty to add some gloss to the scoreline and make it 3-1 to Queens’ so we’re in the Cup final!!!!!!!!!!!

Team: Dan, Pete, Andy, Mark, Jon, Martin, Itzam, Paul, Gustavo, Gabriel, Tom, Yue, Matt, Matt Miller (cheers for reffing 2nd half).

Goals: Tom Baden (2), Matt Wells (pen).

Cup final will be on 6th May (I think! More details to follow), so please make sure everyone is around for that date!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Queens' 2 St Catz/SS 1

A crucial win here for Queens’ in this very tight Quarter-final game. The game was very edgy with both teams having a strong midfield presence, though Queens’ did dominate the game in terms of possession and chances but just couldn’t make this superiority shine through on the scoresheet. Catz, to be fair, had a number of very decent players who were a danger on the counterattack and this was a factor in Queens’ attacking play, as we didn’t want to overcommit ourselves too much.
After a host of chances for us in the first half, the only one which was converted was by Gabriel after a debatable off-side decision went in our favour (though the opposition did provide the assistant who wasn’t concentrating which allowed play to continue).
So with Queens’ leading 1-0 at half-time, we played the second half in the same manner, dominating midfield and our defence was rarely tested. We got the second goal thanks to a penalty after a Catz defender handballed on the edge of the penalty area and the referee gave the penalty which Matt converted to make it 2-0.
This goal lead to an important Catz substitution when they moved their goalkeeper into attack and this striker proved much more a handful for our defence than any of the other Catz players and he nicked a goal with 5 minutes left to play after we didn’t concentrate in defence from a set play.
We held on for the final 5mins to record an important 2-1 win which takes us into the semi-final of the cup where we are due to play either Churchill or Darwin at home next weekend (I think!!)

Team: Dan, Pete, Andy, Mark, Jon, Simon, Paul, Gustavo, Itzam, Gabriel, Matt, Martin, Yue, Jimaan, Charles.

Goals: Gabriel, Matt (pen)

Thanks for everyone who played, and i'm very sorry that I couldn't give more people more playing time! sorry!