SUDDEN DEATH SHOOT OUT, KILLS COLTS CUP HOPES

Deanshanger Colts can be very proud of both their Division Five sides, after an exciting morning of cup football. Kamal's Under 11's can take great pride from their performance against Div 2 side Wolverton Tigermoths, coming from 0 - 2 down and 2 - 3 down to battle to a fantastic 3 - 3 draw. The Colts were more than a match for Wolverton, passing the ball well and winning possession in mid-field and defence. The opening goals came from Wolverton, both of which were fairly high up in the net and managed to get past our stand-in keeper, Jesel, who was recovering from illness in the previous week. The defensive line-up consisted of Oliver A, AD and Michael, all of whom put in very strong performances and were hugely important at stopping the Wolverton attackers making much of an impact. The mid-field was our usual four, Harry, Toby, Samir and Josh - these guys works incredibly hard through the match to win possession, prevent Wolverton moving forward, helping defensively and ultimately scoring our goals. Playing up front we saw a very capable and strong performance from James, single-handedly terrorising the Wolverton defence with confidence.

Scoring from close to the half-way line was Samir with a fantastic long range strike that left Wolverton gob-smacked! Sam soon followed his first goal with a second making the score at half time 2-2.

In the second half we saw an early goal from Wolverton followed by most of the possession going to Colts, with very close srtikes from Harry, Sam,and Josh. In the end it was Harry that managed to net the equalizer, taking us to a penalty shoot out. This was an excellent reflection on our overall performance and with a little more luck the result could well have gone our way.

For the penalties, it was five kicks each followed by sudden death!
AD started proceedings, but has his shot saved. 0-0
AD then saved the first Wolverton penalty! 0-0
Samir was next, burying the ball in the net! 1-0
Wolverton scored their next.. 1-1
Josh was next up, kicking the ball a little over the cross bar! 1-1 (The supporters were getting rather excited at this point!!!!)
Wolverton scored their next.. 1-2
Harry was next up, kicking the ball a little over the cross bar! 1-2
Wolverton kicked the ball over! 1-2
Oliver Anderson scored his penalty, levelling the score 2-2!
AD saves the next Wolverton penalty - crowd goes slightly nuts! 2-2
Toby was next up, kicking the ball a little over the cross bar! 2-2
Wolverton hit the ball wide!!! Still 2-2
James buries his penalty - 3-2 to the Colts!
Wolverton score their next - 3-3
Michael kick a lovely penalty to score - 4-3
Wolverton score - 4-4
Jesel has his shot saved! 4-4
Wolverton penalty taken before the whisle! Ref orders a re-take!!! The crowd were now peeing their pants!!!
Wolverton Score to win the game - 4-5 on penalties, final score 7-8.

We had a huge amount of support on the day, which was certainly evident during the exciting penalty shoot-out that concluded the match.

In the end after nine penalties each it was Tigermoths who progress to the next round of the cup, although I think we gave them rather a surprise with how we worked to make it so hard for them.

I'd like to personally congratulate all the players for an incredible performance both during the match and the penalties - there was a lot of pressure on young shoulders and the team really supported each other well. I have no doubt that we will easily bounce back from this with renewed energy and determination to make the most of the season and all remaining games.