MATCH REPORTS WEEK ENDING 04/11/

A fighting display from the under 9s Tigers earned a creditable draw at third placed Langho. The Tigers withstood some early pressure but with skipper Jason Thompson back to his best keeper Joe Roscow whose kicking was excellent throughout and fellow defenders Ben Birch and Piers Morris were able to keep on top of the lively home forwards and ended the first half all square. Langho went ahead soon after the restart when some indecision on a greasy pitch let the home side take the lead with a shot that keeper Roscow could do nothing about. Sub Patrick O'Brien came on for Jordan Dunn who had played a lone role up front and immediately created havoc in the home defence. His surging run was only halted midway between the corner flag and penalty box by a trip. From the resulting free kick the Tigers were level when Patrick O'Brien's pin point cross found Andrew Bower whose header nestled neatly in the corner to give the keeper no chance. The Tigers were now looking for the winner and with Sam Barrett prompting the home side were hanging on and with two minutes left Piers Morris fed Jordan Dunn but his shot went just wide. Overall it was a fair result with both teams trying to play football on a very heavy pitch.

In spite of a superb first half display, the under 14s crashed out of the cup at the hands of Blue Star. Having lead twice with goals from Peter Nugent and James Robinson, half time saw the teams level at 2-2, with four excellent goals in a first half in which Rovers had the edge. To their credit, Blue Star came out flying at the start of the second half and looked like a team that had a 100% league record this season, and despite a well worked goal finished by Phil Eatough, Rovers went down by 6-3.

The Second Round of the under 18s LFA Cup, and we travel to Blackburn to play the Old Blackburnians. Things were looking good as Usman ( I`ll give you a start) Ahmed beat everyone to play a simple ball across for Matt (Specs r us) Mercer to slot home from four yards out only for him to miss. Minutes later Dave Kemp ( Yes I know I said rare goal don`t rub it in) showed them how its done. Ten minutes before the break the Old Blackburnians scored to level the game at half time 1 -1. The second half saw the away team go on a goal spree banging in two goals in five minutes, looking like ending the unbeaten record and knocking the U18s out of the cup. Michael Timmins came on to replace Steven (no I`m not injured again before you ask) Marsden, which allowed Danny Smith to go into an attacking role. Jonathan Williamson played the role of wing back and fed the ball across for Matt Mercer to make the score respectable. Ten minutes to go and the U18s lifted their game , Usman Ahmed getting on the score sheet to make it 3 -3. Substitute Michael Timmins had a run down the right wing to cross for Matt Mercer to score his second. From the centre Robert Wallace played the ball through for Danny Smith, who beat everyone then unselfishly played it back for Matt ( The Hat) Mercer to get his Third, final score 3 - 5 still unbeaten and on to the Third Round. To end on an even stranger note, Nick (Bites your legs) Ford was Man of the Match.