Amazed winners of the previous year's trophy (despite an 8% ankle deficit by the end of the qualifiers), the mighty SBA were keen to improve on a patchy run of results and taste cup success once more.
As usual, we were well behind schedule getting ready for the first match, and several of the team weren't even changed by kick-off. Whoops. Our opponents were Luton, who had been holders of the trophy prior to our good selves.
Due mainly to bad preparation (probably unavoidable in the circumstances), both sides struggled to get any sort of rhythm going in the match. The only moments of real note came from John McCutcheon, who came close with a curler from the edge of the area, and later forced a good save from their keeper with a free kick. The game ended goalless.
A subsequent win for other group competitors, Donny R'Sonists, against Luton meant that we only needed a draw to go through in our second match, whereas a win would see us qualify as group winners.
The game couldn't have got off to a better start: a Banjo corner was met emphatically at the near post with a brave header from Joe (not that he was under challenge- far from it. On the other hand, any header classes as brave if you've been out on the sauce in Birmingham all night and only had 2 hours' kip). 1-0 to the Sky Blues.
Then things began to turn a bit smelly- talismanic sweeper Edwin Silvester went over badly on his ankle on the rock hard pitch. Attempts to patch him up proved unsuccessful and we were reluctantly forced to:
The score at half time was 1-0 to us.
The second half, however, started ingloriously. Some defensive panic forced Croftsy in goal to pull off a brilliant point-blank save, his reward for which was to watch the ball being presented back to the striker, who rammed it gratefully home. D'oh.
By now, Donny were on top, but that fickle Goddess that is Football smiled once more upon the warriors in Sky Blue. An attack from deep midfield seemed to have broken down, but Phil, charging in from the left, blocked the defender's clearance: the ball scuttled across the area and John McCutch unleashed a shot that pretty much put an extra hole in the net (and would have put one in the keeper to if he'd got in the way).
This fateful strike sealed Donny's doom. The SBA managed to hang onto the lead in a tense, terse finish to the game.
All of which hard work put us into a quarter final fixture with the multiply beWorldNetted Middlesborough who had just finished their final group game against Stockport. There were few signs of fatigue from the Northern types in the opening exchanges, however. The SBA were content to get bodies behind the ball and occasionally whack it into the corners for our hapless strikers to pursue.
The second half looked a little more propitious for the Sky Blues- the gruelling pace was starting to tell on the Boro lads, and it was their goal that was under threat. Despite this, a brisk move did prise open the SBA defence, but James in goal distinguished himself with a customary wonder-save. Fortunately, there were no SBA outfielders on hand to obligingly present the Boro lad with a second opportunity, and the danger was averted.
Now though, direct SBA attacking was really putting Boro to the test. A good run and cut-back from Ali found the perennially outraged Ross on the edge of the area, who turned the last defender and steadied himself, before firing the ball into the scrubby-looking barnyard behind the goal. A further break up the right drew a Gary Kelly-esque header at the back post (and three inches off the floor) from Pete, who had made a lot of ground to get into the box. The Boro goalie looked suitably relieved, not to mention bemused...
The teams could not be separated, which meant only one thing: a draw! Which, er, in turn meant only one thing: penalties! Sadly, though, the humble spot-kick has been no friend of the battling SBA in recent times. As the clouds gathered overhead, our sixth penalty clipped the outside of the right-hand post, and, with the keeper nowhere in sight, spun away toward the touchline, blowing our chances of a successful trophy defence to buggery.
Such is life and Lady Football. The trophy departed in the company of Stockport's Mad Hatters, a great bunch of lads and 2-0 victors over Boro in the final. For us, there remains only the memories...
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