West End Boys 4 Stalybridge Celtic 4................By Alun Ireland...
West End through on penalties
Stalybridge went out on penalties after leaving themselves too much to do to turn round a four goal deficit.
In the first game, a poor first 25 minutes saw West End take a four goal lead. The boys deserve credit for not giving up, but a combination of some poor concentration at the back, and struggling to break down a well organised defence when attacking, left them playing catch up.
The Blues started well, Jack almost breaking the deadlock with a shot from distance, but Tom was soon called into action to save with his feet, then James cleared off the line as West End built the pressure.
There were signs of a goal as Oscar and Will combined well, but their opponents gradually took control. Firstly Tom forced their attacker wide when he was left one on one, but the Blues did not learn and when the same thing happened again the striker made no mistake.
They doubled the lead immediately, then scored again straight after half time to make it three goals in less than five minutes.
The Blues then improved, Tyler, William and Oscar all having chances, but conceded a fourth following a poor ball out of defence which was intercepted by West End.
A great run by Tyler down the right led to a goal back for Dec, then Will was first to react when Oscar’s shot was blocked. From there the Blues laid siege to the goal, and were unlucky not to profit from several goalmouth scrambles.
But they were easily second best to a well organised and pacy west End team – Tom deservedly claiming man of the match.
The Whites started fantastically, with Archie and Callum combining well, and Jack C and Robson troubling their opponents.
Jack came close to scoring with a header from a corner, but the goal soon came with a fine ball from Archie to Callum, whose strike hit the post then went in off the keeper.
There was no doubt luck with his second though, latching on to a perfect pass from Jack to finish from a tight angle and extend the lead to 2-0, and 4-4 over all.
With the aggregate scores level though, the Whites let West End back into the game.
With Brandon dominant at the back, helped by Niall and Owen, the Whites did not look like losing, but the second half became scrappy, with lots of delays for fouls, shoe laces and throw ins.
Robson sent Jack in, but he shot wide, while at the other end the Whites hit their own post.
West End also forced Deacon into a good save from a volley, before man of the match Brandon’s last ditch tackle stopped West End having a one on one with the keeper.
West End go through on penalties 4-3 