Curzon Ashton 1 – 4 Audenshaw
After a short break in the football season, the Sixth Form football team went into the Cup final v Curzon Ashton having not played for the past three weeks. After already convincingly beaten Curzon in the league, the team were full of confidence. The final came after being crowned league champions and victories v Tameside and All Saints in the cup group stages set up this encounter in the final.
The lads came flying out of the blocks and some slick play all over the field was unlucky not to be rewarded as a few half chances went begging in the opening five minutes. However, the breakthrough arrived just ten minutes in after a ball over the top provided Jake Slinger with a one-on-one chance, with the striker coolly taking it around the keeper only to be thwarted by a rash tackle which resulted in a penalty. He stepped up and placed the ball under the diving keeper who maybe could’ve done better. The previous game between the two teams had proven to be a feisty affair and despite no such problems this time, both teams were flying into tackles and the game become a bit scrappy with neither team able to get a grip of the game. Audenshaw couldn’t make any more of their dominance and the teams went into half time with Audenshaw leading by one goal to nil
HT Curzon Ashton 0 – 1 Audenshaw
With the introduction of Reece Frost at front, the midfield had a new outlet to slip in behind the defence which was done on a number of occasions. The second goal followed shortly after the restart after some good build up play down the right wing saw a cross delivered to Frost whose shot was blocked into the path of the onrushing Slinger who placed the ball into the bottom left hand corner. The best goal of the match came almost immediately after the second after a long ball from the defence reached Slinger who laid the ball into the path of Frost who volleyed the ball across goal into the top right corner leaving the goalkeeper helpless. As previously, the Audenshaw defence of Gulla, Allwood, Clayton and McColl proved to be immense and restricted the Curzon team to some distant shots. Audenshaw all but sealed the win with a well taken goal from Jack McCormack who found the bottom corner after a scrap in the Curzon box. The game ended with the home side grabbing back a consolation goal after the referee awarded a corner despite the ball going out for a throw in where an unmarked player looked to have found the bottom corner with his head only for it to be cleared off the line from debutant Jake Coombs who could only clear the ball into the path of a Curzon player who smashed the ball into the roof of the net.
FT Curzon 1 – 4 Audenshaw