Alphington booked their place in the Thirst Fitness League Cup Final at Budleigh Salterton on the 10th of May with a penalty shoot-out victory against near neighbours Topsham Town on Tuesday night. A wet Ottery St Mary was the venue for an entertaining match with Alphington keeper Leon Woodhead proving to be the hero as the league leaders had to come from behind on the night.
The game begun with both teams having early chances to take the lead but neither side were able to take advantage from close range. Alphington left back Charlie Gillard was caught not paying attention as Tyler Kelly pounced on a lose ball inside the box but couldn’t find the target as he sent his effort over the bar for Topsham with the first real chance of the game. Moments later and Alphington had a similar chance as Tre Davey was played through one on one but he did well to lift the ball over the keeper but could only watch as it went narrowly wide.
A potential let off for both sides but both teams would also be frustrated to have not taken the lead with such an early chance.
Young Topsham forward Tyler Kelly was proving to be a bit of a handful for the Alphington defence and found himself through on goal once again as he shot just wide from the edge of the box. Both teams were getting plenty of early chances but neither keeper was yet to be tested.
Topsham looked the most likely to score in the first half and as the first forty five minutes drew to a close they had another golden opportunity to take the lead as a shot from Nathan May deflected off a defender and directly into the path of Lee Radford inside the box who hit his effort over the bar.
Alphington had the last chance of the half as substitute Ben Annunziata saw his effort saved well by Topsham keeper Will Davis. An entertaining end to end first half ended goalless as both teams were able to create chances but looked like they had left their shooting boots at home.
Topsham started the second half the strongest and they had the opening goal inside ten minutes of the restart. A superb solo run by Nathan May ended in his shot being saved by Woodhead with the ball falling to Kelly who made no mistake from close range. The goal wouldn’t count though as the linesman was quick to raise the flag for offside.
The disallowed goal seemed to bring the game to life and it wasn’t long until Topsham took the lead, this time with the goal standing. Tyler Kelly who had been lively all match hit a sweet shot from the corner of the box which flew past the Alphington keeper and into the far bottom corner of the goal. A well taken effort and what a time to score.
Topsham only had the lead for seven minutes before Alphington managed to equalise with a well taken effort. The ball was played through the defence to Annunziata who beat the offside trap and fired a shot into the roof of the net with power from close range.
With the scores level once again the game seemed to even out with an end to end affair once again taking place with both teams trying to create chances to take the lead but ultimately the final ball letting them down. As the final whistle drew closer and the dreaded penalty shoot-out was just around the corner Alphington had one more chance to grab the winner deep in injury time as a long throw into the box found Tre Davey who headed goalwards which required Davis in the Topsham goal to react tipping the ball over the top.
Nothing could separate the two sides after ninety minutes and so the penalty shoot-out would determine who would make the trip to Budleigh Salterton for the final. Topsham took the first penalty and Matt Bye could only watch as his effort was well saved by Woodhead down to the keepers right. This would be the penalty that would determine the result as the following nine were all scored.
Alphington await the winners of Ottery St Mary v Appledore in the final with the second semi-final due to take place on Wednesday 23rd April at Elmore.
Topsham Town team: Will Davis, Harry Drew Cull, Sam Clarke, James Skinner, Lee Riggs, Matthew Bye, Fred Kingdom, Sam Tapp, Tyler Kelly, Nathan May, Lee Radford
Subs: Mitch Ward, Brad Riggs, Brad Phillips, Ryan Saunders
Alphington team: Leon Woodhead, Tom Bray, Jordan Casey, Jack Furzer, Charlie Gillard, George Bosworth, Rio Potter, Jake Haggerty, Joel Greenslade, Tre Davey, Ben Bickle
Subs: Ben Annunziata, Jake Pond, Harry Wellaway