Sholing3 2Brockenhurst

Scorers : TJ Cuthbertson 32, Marv McLean 108, Dan Mason 113 / Mitchell Speechly-Price 20, Ryan Long 106

Date : Thursday 9th March 2017 - 7:30pm - Southampton Senior Cup Semi Final

Venue : Follands Park

Sholing : Ryan Gosney, TJ Cuthbertson, Luke Dempsey, Dan Miller, Marvin McLean: Micky Hubbard (Owen Royl), Alex Sawyer (Owen Roundell), Byron Mason [c], Jamie Bulpitt (Kevin Brewster), Dan Mason, Lee Wort. Unused Subs: Nick Yeomans, Jordan Brooks

Yellow Card : Alex Sawyer & Lee Wort

Brockenhurst : Callum Maher, Aaron Dunne, Ronan Moore, Greg King, Joe Chamberlain; Brad Magookin, Will Tickle (Jake Long), Matt Vokes, Mark Baker(Ryan Long), Mitchell Spechly-Price (Noel McCarthy-Gardner), Jude Nwachukwu. Unused Subs: Tommy Barnes, Samuel Cousins

Yellow Card : ?

Attendance : 173

Men of the Match : Dan Miller

Referee: Rudi Burton  Assistants: Rob Linter & John Bungay. Replacement Assistant : Rod Burt

In an incredible game that took three hours to complete, Sholing came from behind twice to overhaul the Badgers in the second half of extra time and book a place in the Southampton Senior Cup Final at St Mary's.  As has so often been the case all season, Dan Mason scored the decisive goal in a game that will live long in the memory for many reasons!

Team News : Barry Mason was still recovering from his recent op and Zac Mouland was unavailable, but Marv McLean came back sooner than expected from his hamstring pull to start at left back.  Dave Diaper put out a diamond formation, with Byron behind the front two and Micky Hubbard anchoring.

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In front of a large crowd on a decent pitch at Follands, Sholing had the first meaningful effort on goal as Lee Wort had a powerful shot from distance held by ‘keeper Callum Maher.

Brockenhurst were looking very pacy down the channels and took the lead on 20 minutes. Luke Dempsey’s slip allowed Will Tickle in down the left, with his low cross being met at the same time by Gosney & Marv, who clattered into each other, with the ball spinning up high in the air, but towards goal where Mitchell Speechly-Price had the easy job of nodding into an empty net.

Sholing’s Alex Sawyer stabbed his shot wide while Will Tickle sliced high and wide before Sholing’s equaliser on 33 minutes. TJ CUTHBERTSON evaded the challenge of Mark Baker 25 yards out, and with little other option, took a pot shot that caught Maher off guard as it found the bottom right corner.

Jamie Bulpitt went close with a floated effort from the edge of the box that had Callum Maher scrambling to tip it over before half-time.  HT 1-1

Brockenhurst ought to have been ahead seconds into the second half when Tickle wanted too much time before being tackled in the area with Jude Nwachukwu firing the rebound well wide.

Lee Wort then had one effort saved and another blocked in quick succession as Sholing quickly regained the lion’s share of the pressure. Micky Hubbard’s cross then caused mayhem in the Brockenhurst defence before the ball was worked to captain Byron Mason, who shot just over.

With the game entering the final 15 minutes, suddenly linesman Bungay called over the referee and he was unable to continue due to injury.   Unfortunately, there was no 4th official for this game, so after a tannoy announcement and a delay of 13 minutes, finally Rod Burt, who was there as a spectator, emerged in a referee's kit to run the line.

If that wasn't comedic enough for those watching on, we then had the sight of the Referee accidently spitting out his false teeth as he blew for the restart!

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Both sides pushed for a winner, with Sholing having the best chances that both fell to Dan Mason.  The first one he hit on the angle whilst being pulled to the ground, but no penalty was given.  Then a cross found him the box, but the ball took an age to sit up for him and his effort was blocked.  Meanwhile, Brokenhurst with their pacy forward line almost grabbed a winner when a ball into the box wasn't punched clear by Gosney, but Sholing were able to hack the ball away.  FT 1-1

The game entered extra-time and after Will Tickle’s cross wasn’t met, Sholing broke and were denied twice when Alex Sawyer’s effort was parried to Dan Mason but Maher pulled off a double stop to deny him.

Will Tickle then dragged a solo effort wide while Lee Wort’s snapshot almost caught out Callum Maher before Brockenhurst took the lead before the midway point of extra-time. Ryan Long dispossessed Dempsey on the left side of the area and swept the ball into the far corner from 10 yards.

Sholing had the final 15 minutes to get themselves back into the game, but almost conceded straight from the restart, but Long fluffed his free header only 8 yards out. The Boatmen then equalised a minute later as Lee Wort escaped down the right and his ball across goal found it's way to MARV MCLEAN to sidefoot volley into the net for his first goal of the season.

With 6 minutes left, Sholing scored the decisive goal as Kev Brewster lifted a pass over the Brock defence for DAN MASON to run onto, he got there ahead of the on-rushing keeper, checked back into space and fired high into the net past two defenders on the line. 

Despite almost 5 minutes of added on time and as the clocked ticked towards 10:30pm, the final whistle blew and Sholing were on their way to St Mary's to face Team Solent in the Final !  FT AET 3-2

Commiserations to Brockenhurst for a well fought game that could have swung either way.  Thanks to Follands for hosting. No date has been set as yet for the final, but it's likely to be in May. 

Report by Jack Prentice

Next Game : Whitchurch United v Sholing - Saturday 11th March 3pm
Next Home Game : Sholing v Moneyfields - Tuesday 14th March 7:45pm

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