Report

Royal United U16's took the short trip to Crawley to take on Twin Oaks in the semi-final of the Edwin Hill Cup. The boys hadn't played for a couple of weeks and Twin Oaks, as with Royal United had their strongest teams on display.

Both teams started well, but Twin Oaks to be fair had the better of the early exchanges as Royals just didn't seem to get started early on.  A free-kick by the ever impressive Greg Gander saw Tom Killner-Brown miss a difficult opportunity. Then Royal United got another free-kick and this time Anthony Jupp delivered a ball into the Twin Oaks box, with the ball falling to Jacob Waller whose effort missed the target.

Twin Oaks put pressure on Royals with some good football but the Royals back four of Luke Polie, Anthony Jupp, Greg Gander and Harry Garman were looking solid. Then on 32 minutes Jake Legrange's hard work saw him put the Twin Oaks centre back under pressure and his quick-fire shot looped over the Twin Oaks keeper to see Royal United take the lead. 1-0 to Royals! The last few minutes saw Twin Oaks have a shot on goal, but couldn't convert the attempt.

Dave and I tried to get the boys more focussed for the second half and up the tempo. In the early stages, Connor Cushing had a good attempt on goal and after 13 minutes of the restart a tempting cross by Jacob Waller saw Jake Legrange get his second.

With Royals getting back into the game, Twin Oaks broke free on the right and a shot/cross, which Aaron thought was going behind, but ended up in the back of the net! 2-1 to Royals.

Then on 64 minutes Tom Killner-Brown finished well after creating space for himself, and again 4 minutes later he converted after a cross from Harry Garman, seeing Royals go 4-1 up. Stanley Rice was starting to cause issues on the left and with Callum McHale, Zac Love and Joshua Wood coming on we wanted to shut up shop. However, Callum McHale got on the score sheet after 71 minutes when pressure from Royals paid off. 5-1 and now totally in control.

However, Twin Oaks weren't giving up and had an effort on 75 minutes which looked a certain goal, but an acrobatic two handed save by Aaron Chaplin kept his effort out and Harry Garman cleared the lines. Just before full-time, Zac Love created an opening and hit a great effort that hit the top of the cross-bar.

A triumphant 5-1 win for the boys, who thoroughly deserve to get through to the Edwin Hill Cup Final.

We weren't at our best today, but a couple of players stood out for me. Anthony Jupp looked calm and dealt with any real threat from the Twin Oaks forwards; Harry Garman looked assured and strong as always, Connor Cushing & Alex Parsons worked hard in the middle, as well as Tom Killner-Brown giving the opposition defence no rest bite. However, Greg Gander at the heart of Royals defence was immense, strong and looks a tremendous player for any future club and he gets MOTM today.

A thank you to Karen Polie who did an excellent job on the match report!

MOTM: Greg Gander - Was immense today and gave a display a lot older than his years. Strong, committed and able to play the ball out from the back.

Goal-scorers: Jake Legrange (x2), Tom Killner-Brown (x2) & Callum McHale

Squad: Aaron Chaplin, Jacob Waller, Harry Garman, Anthony Jupp, Greg Gander, Connor Cushing, Alex Parsons, Callum McHale, Stanley Rice, Tom Killner-Brown, Jake Legrange, Luke Polie, Zac Love & Joshua Wood.