The 1st and Devs teams were in action on Saturday with the Devs travelling to Woking Corinthians and the 1st hosting Ottershaw in the League Cup.

At Coopers Hill the 1st team started well and dominated the opening exchanges with some excellent football played but the Lemons just couldn’t find an opening and it was Ottershaw who opened the scoring following a free kick which cannoned around in the wall before a snap shot which Armstrong saved well only for it to fall to the Ottershaw 9 who tapped home from close range. Manorcroft continued to dominate possession and territory but with little end product to their confident play the home side allowed themselves to become frustrated as they searched for an equaliser.
The second half would see a similar pattern, Manorcroft having lots of the ball and creating plenty of attacks with Ottershaw rarely troubling the home side, that said it was looking like ‘one of those days’ as the home attacks regularly looked just short of ever finding a goal. Ottershaw then countered with 20 minutes left and following another Armstrong save once again the visiting 9 was able to pick up the scraps and give them a 2-0 lead. Credit to the home side who picked up their level of performance and Sonny Huntley then headed home from a Cal Slattery dead ball and with 10 to go the home side were very much on top, the visitors had a player sin binned and with 10 men they struggled to get out of their half with Huntley brought down by the opposition goalkeeper with just minutes to go in what was a clear foul, the referee however didn’t see a foul and with the missed foul went the last hopes of taking the game to extra-time. Credit to Ottershaw who battled hard all day and took their opportunity and a day where the Lemons just couldn’t find the all important final pass. Good luck to them in the next round.

The Devs took on top of the table away from home and got off to a flyer with Jason Hatcher scoring a long range screamer to put them 1-0 ahead. Unfortunately once again the conceding virtually straight away meant the momentum swung back to the home side and with a further goal before half time we found ourselves 2-1 down at the break. The second half was a non-starter unfortunately and in the end the final score was to be 6-2 on a disappointing afternoon. That said this side contains a number of young players and some returning from long term injuries so manager Ross Clark is positive as we build fitness and experience these second half non-events will soon turn into extensions of good half performances.

All in all a disappointing day for the senior sides although some positives to be found, we go again next week. 💛💙

Good Luck to all the Juniors in action tomorrow, only 5 games at Coopers Hill this weekend as most are on the road.

The Youth Team are in action on Tuesday evening playing at Home against CB Hounslow in a friendly, Kick Off 7:45 @ Bedfont Sports

#COYL🍋