Sun 29/09/13 Fleetwood Town Reds Under 15’s v Leigh Genesis (Cosmos) H Lancashire Cup 2 nd Round ANOTHER PENALTY SHOOT OUT WIN SENDS SUPER FLEETWOOD STORMING INTO LANCS CUP 3 RD ROUND! As we reach the end of September, with the season now in full swing, next up for the boys was a difficult looking Lancashire Cup 3 rd Round tie against Leigh Genesis Cosmos. Having spent some time on the internet, I discovered that Leigh reached the last 16 of this competition last season, going out by an odd goal to the eventual winners, Bamber Bridge Utd Blues. Cosmos had also won their 2 nd division title at under 14 level and had made a steady start in the top division taking 3 points from their first 3 games, all draws. When you look at Fleetwood’s progress, winning our league last season and gaining 4 points from our first 4 league games in our Alpha League, the comparisons were very similar. Town lined up with Crellin in goal, Mozza, Cozzy, Vanbo and Fauxy in defence, Stuy, Pratty, captain Samie and Brooky in midfield and the pocket dynamo pairing of Stevie and Cleggy up front. An unwell Wackers, Burnsy and Josh Fleetwood lined the bench with 3 absentees of Clowesy, Greer and Dan Cardy who were all away on a geography field trip paddling in rivers!!! Fleetwood were quickly into their stride against a team who were full of big lads and were making progress down the right hand side with good work from Stuy and Stevie. Joe Pratt was also soon getting involved in the middle of the park mixing it up with the big boys! After 10 minutes play, The Cod Army’s bright start paid off when winger Stuy beat the opposition’s left back and delivered one of his trademark crosses for Jack Brooks to latch onto and neatly tuck away a left foot shoot, his 3 rd of the season and another neat finish to go along with his goal against YMCA last week. Town were on top and were controlling the game. Joe Clegg was working hard as always at closing the opposition down. Big Samie Slim was his usual self, winning towering headers and crunching tackles in the centre of midfield. The central defensive pairing of Cozzy and Vanbo were also easily keeping The Leigh forwards quiet as the two fullbacks of Mozza and Fauxy were also working hard, the latter showing good positional sense and keeping a close eye on the right hand attacking threat from the opposition. As can so easily happen in games, Fleetwood’s early dominance was soon undone after the opposition took a superb free kick from the edge of the penalty area, which looped over the defensive wall, into keeper Crellin’s left hand top corner, in order to make the score all square. 1-1 and game on! Rather than let their heads go down, Town’s response was both swift and clinical. Stevie picked the ball up over on the left hand side and played a great pass onto Super Stuy, who again crossed the ball for man of the match Cleggy to score his first of the season and put Fleetwood back into the lead. Your opposition are always at their most vulnerable when they have just scored and Town had shown this to be oh so true and get themselves back into the lead. They also could have further increased it before half time, as the home side’s strong attacking play continued with Brooky going close. A first half substitution from manager Tony Clowes saw the introduction of Josh Fleetwood, replacing Mozza at right back. Josh, who has signed for the under 16’s but is playing a year up, slotted in nicely at the back and displayed spells of hard tackling and quick running. Assists that may be called upon in the future, in order to help out the squad. The second half started in much the same way as the first had ended with the home side firmly in control of proceedings. Centre back Cozzy launched one of his super free kicks deep into the opposition’s box, which caused both panic and confusion within the Leigh defence and home side captain Big Samie Slim was on hand to smash the ball home, with a left foot shot and make the score 3-1 to Town. His 3 rd of the season in just 6 games and from a central midfield position, captain fantastic had done it again! Just as The Cod Army were beginning to think about a 3 rd round tie and an extended run in the competition, Leigh got themselves back into the game as they got round the back of Fleetwood’s defence, sending in a cross, which keeper Crellin only managed to get fingertips too, but sent the ball away from goal. Although the opposition striker quickly adjusted his feet and smashed the ball home, from behind his original position, to make the score 3-2. By now, Leigh were in control of the game. The home side were no longer dominating the play. The introduction of both Burnsy and Wackers failed to stem the flow of the opposition’s attacks and with less than 10 minutes to play, Cosmos levelled the game after some poor defensive work down Town’s right hand side. As the ref blew the final whistle, it was to be yet another penalty shoot-out in order to decide who was going to take their place in the 3 rd round. Leigh calmly went 1-0 up in the deciding lottery as Stuy failed to convert his spot-kick. The opposition’s 2 nd penalty struck keeper Crellin’s post and captain Samie scored Town’s 2 nd . 1-1 and both sides were still in it! Billy Crellin then pulled off 2 great saves to keep the away side’s 3 rd and 4 th penalties out as in-between these, Vanbo scored from his spot-kick to make it 2-1 to Town. Then high drama followed as Wackers scuffed his effort, which the Leigh keeper saved with his legs. That would have put Fleetwood through as 3-1 winners but as Cosmos scored their last penalty, up stepped keeper Crellin to calmly score The Cod Army’s 5 th to send them through to the 3 rd round with a 3-2 penalty shoot-out win. The boy Crellin had turned from penalty saver to penalty scorer. A superb display of both excellent goalkeeping and bottle! In his post-match comments manager Tony Clowes said, “Well done to all our boys again today! That’s 7 out of 8 penalty shoot-out wins that our team has recorded and it now sends us into the last 32 of the competition where we’ll play at home against Westbury Sports Club Hurricanes from Manchester (It’s Bury actually gaffer, but hey-ho who cares!!) The man of the match was Cleggy for working his socks off against a defence twice his size and scoring a good goal.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 06:34:55 +0000
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