Neil Thomason Memorial Cup Quarter Final
If March 1st 2008 was Youth United Day at Gigg Lane then what better in the United tradition to follow it up with a Youth Team cup game. So as a result of beating Bootle in the first round last week and having a Cheshire County FA Youth Cup Final next week, Altrincham were obliged to entertain FC in a Quarter Final Tie at Wythenshawe Town FC.
With an injury ruling out Jake Edwards for this game and possibly the rest of the season the cup fever was quickly dampened down. Sadly League rules meant that a newly signed replacement was ineligible having not made a prior appearance. Does this sound familiar to anybody? It was therefore necessary to call for volunteers to take one step forward and unfortunately for Boumba everyone else took one step back.
The question for the game was how effective a stopper he could be. His first test came in the first minute when an Altrincham break left him exposed 1 on 1, a blocked save on the edge of the area gave hope to all. The first chance to FC came in the 10th minute when a corner dropped invitingly for Sean Mills who fired across the goal, but also across the far post.
All efforts were coming to nought until a long ball through the defence saw the keepers kick sliced straight into the path of the Altrincham number 9 Gavin O’Connor for a 34th minute opener. FC had a number of chances to equalise before half time but sadly failed to take any of them.
The second half was rather more one sided as FC heads dropped, in the 49th minute Danny Browne made it 2-0 from outside the box as he returned an FC clearance with interest. Five minutes later Gavin O’Connor got his second by being in the right place to tap in a session of penalty area pinball. Altrincham completed the scoring in the 75th minute when substitute Tom Bailey scored direct from a free kick.
Gavin O’Connor got this pundits verdict for opposition man of the match for his leading of the line along with his ability to be in the right place to score tap ins but special medal of honour really should go to Boumba for stepping up in time of crisis.
Altrincham
1 Andrew Jones
2 Jack Kimber
3 Declan Wakefield
4 Alex Murphy
5 Jake Leigh-Watson
6 Dominic Lillie
7 Daniel Killilea
8 Danny Browne (Goal 49mins)
9 Gavin O’Connor (Goals 34&54mins)
10 Sam Madeley
11 Charlie Weir
Subs
12 Tom Bailey (67 Min for 10) (Goal 75 mins)
14 Chris Francis (55 mins for 7)
15 Steven Crane
16 Ben Oliver (63 mins for 11)
18 Lee Berrill
FC United
1 Boumba Boubth
2 Danny Hulme
3 Imran Arain
4 Perry Johnson
5 Nick Swirad
6 Matthew Kirkwood
7 Callum Rothwell
8 Shaun Williams
9 Sean Mills
10 Rob Trainor
11 Liam James
Subs
12 Marcel Mckie
14 Tim Marshall (65 mins for 4)
15 Johnny Hall
16 Joe Halfpenny (55 mins for 7)
17 Andy Harrison (65 mins for 2)
Neil Thomason Memorial Cup Quarter Final
If March 1st 2008 was Youth United Day at Gigg Lane then what better in the United tradition to follow it up with a Youth Team cup game. So as a result of beating Bootle in the first round last week and having a Cheshire County FA Youth Cup Final next week, Altrincham were obliged to entertain FC in a Quarter Final Tie at Wythenshawe Town FC.
With an injury ruling out Jake Edwards for this game and possibly the rest of the season the cup fever was quickly dampened down. Sadly League rules meant that a newly signed replacement was ineligible having not made a prior appearance. Does this sound familiar to anybody? It was therefore necessary to call for volunteers to take one step forward and unfortunately for Boumba everyone else took one step back.
The question for the game was how effective a stopper he could be. His first test came in the first minute when an Altrincham break left him exposed 1 on 1, a blocked save on the edge of the area gave hope to all. The first chance to FC came in the 10th minute when a corner dropped invitingly for Sean Mills who fired across the goal, but also across the far post.
All efforts were coming to nought until a long ball through the defence saw the keepers kick sliced straight into the path of the Altrincham number 9 Gavin O’Connor for a 34th minute opener. FC had a number of chances to equalise before half time but sadly failed to take any of them.
The second half was rather more one sided as FC heads dropped, in the 49th minute Danny Browne made it 2-0 from outside the box as he returned an FC clearance with interest. Five minutes later Gavin O’Connor got his second by being in the right place to tap in a session of penalty area pinball. Altrincham completed the scoring in the 75th minute when substitute Tom Bailey scored direct from a free kick.
Gavin O’Connor got this pundits verdict for opposition man of the match for his leading of the line along with his ability to be in the right place to score tap ins but special medal of honour really should go to Boumba for stepping up in time of crisis.
Altrincham
1 Andrew Jones
2 Jack Kimber
3 Declan Wakefield
4 Alex Murphy
5 Jake Leigh-Watson
6 Dominic Lillie
7 Daniel Killilea
8 Danny Browne (Goal 49mins)
9 Gavin O’Connor (Goals 34&54mins)
10 Sam Madeley
11 Charlie Weir
Subs
12 Tom Bailey (67 Min for 10) (Goal 75 mins)
14 Chris Francis (55 mins for 7)
15 Steven Crane
16 Ben Oliver (63 mins for 11)
18 Lee Berrill
FC United
1 Boumba Boubth
2 Danny Hulme
3 Imran Arain
4 Perry Johnson
5 Nick Swirad
6 Matthew Kirkwood
7 Callum Rothwell
8 Shaun Williams
9 Sean Mills
10 Rob Trainor
11 Liam James
Subs
12 Marcel Mckie
14 Tim Marshall (65 mins for 4)
15 Johnny Hall
16 Joe Halfpenny (55 mins for 7)
17 Andy Harrison (65 mins for 2)
