Goodricke hold nerve to reach final

A fantastically worked O’Shea volley was cancelled out by a back post Gouland header as the tournament’s top scorers continued their own personal fine form; however the fine form of these two was not replicated by the teams as a whole with both teams failing to find their top gear.

The game was characterised by rushed passes, over hit balls and tough tackling, with time on the ball at a premium. Vanbrugh allowed the classy Goodricke midfield of Leadbeater, High, Wilson, Grafham and O’Shea no space while Grayland was given a personal man marking job on Gouland. Neither team gave the opposition’s best players any time or space, producing at time very ugly football.

That's not to say that there wasn’t any good football on show, but it only came in glimpses. One glimpse was for the opening goal in the 11th minute. Whether York’s movement of the ball out of defence was a long ball or a long pass was debatable, but it found an advancing Grafham down the left wing. Grafham then lifted the ball into the box for O’Shea to slam a volley home from 10 yards.

The first half was littered with half chances as Goodricke began to dominate. They had chances through Wilson, who shot tamely at the keeper, Silson, who perhaps could have passed to Wilson instead of shooting, and High, who could not direct his volley goalwards.

Gouland did manage to fashion a shot out of nothing, which got blocked, and Oliver volleyed wide, but neither chance was even a half chance really, more speculative than expectant shots.

Clear cut opportunities were hard to come by, which must have prompted a couple of Remington free kicks being directed goalwards even though their distances would have prompted a cross from most players.

The half time whistle blew and Goodricke had their lead, but it looked a fragile one. They started the second half with vigour and had a high tempo five minutes culminating in two corners and a curling Silson effort that had to be tipped brilliantly round the post by Taylor. Another Remington free kick went over the bar before the momentum changed and Vanbrugh began to have the better of it.

In the 52nd minute, lapse marking at a corner left Gouland unmarked at the back post to head in, despite O’Shea’s attempted clearance off the line.

Vanbrugh certainly looked the more likely to score for the remainder of the game and Nicholas spurned the chance of a potential one-on-one by miscontrolling a through ball.

Goodricke managed to weather the storm, with chances falling to neither team in the last 10 minutes.

This brought about a dreaded penalty shoot out, something which Goodricke goalkeeper Taylor seemed to relish. The kicks started in dreadful fashion for Vanbrugh as Oliver blazed over, before York hit an unsavable penalty into the very top of the left corner. Vanbrugh and Goodricke then both converted their penalties confidently before Taylor saved from Regan to leave Goodricke in firm control.

Cheeky O’Shea then chipped his penalty into the net before High scored the deciding penalty to send Goodricke through.

Penalty hero High said that he “wasn’t nervous as the boys before me had done so well and had given me some leeway.” He added that “a draw was a fair result, but I felt that Goodricke had the confidence at the final whistle. I always thought we would win the shoot-out. In the final, we will need to play better football if we are to win, but I believe that we can all up our game.”

What some have called the ‘dream’ final has now been set up and The Yorker will be providing a full preview for the week 10 final.

Teams

Goodricke - Taylor, Remington, Lewis (Smith), York, Grayland, Leadbeater, High, Wilson (Oatridge), Grafham, O'Shea, Silson.

Vanbrugh - Taylor,Sheldrick, Radford, McWilliams, Sweetman, Brown, Witherwick, Oliver, Nicholas, Regan, Gouland.

Goals - 11' O'Shea, 52' Gouland.

Penalties -

Vanbrugh - Oliver X, McWilliams O, Regan X, Gouland O.

Goodricke - York O, Grafham O , O'Shea O, High O.

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