Article by Tom Besford.
The second Sportslighting Devon Premier Cup Semi Final matched a strong University of Exeter side against a Fremington team who currently sit second in the North Devon Football League Premier Division as they look for promotion back to the Devon League. Both teams came into this game knowing that Lapford await the winners in the final on Saturday 10th May.
As many would have expected, the University side started the strongest and it didn’t take them long to take the lead; as the game was less than a minute old, Adam Macpherson broke through on the right hand side and slotted past the Fremington ‘keeper from inside the box to give his side the advantage.
The opening period of the game was heavily dominated by the University of Exeter playing short passing football, with Fremington limited to long clearances down the pitch in the hope of finding their lone striker. It didn’t take long for the lead to double and with less than twenty minutes on the clock, Seb Limon headed home at the back post from a corner.
The North Devon outfit, who were being cheered on by a large following of faithful fans who had made the long trip down to the County Ground, had a hard job if they wanted to try and get back into the game, and it was almost out of sight completely when a skilful run by Sam Wade ended in a pass through to goalscorer Macpherson who could only fire into the side netting.
This was possibly the wake up call that Fremington needed and just under a minute later, they had halved the deficit. A wonderful defence-splitting pass by Miles Macree found Hayden Phillips who rifled a shot off the bar and into the back of the net to the delight of the travelling supporters.
The goal brought the game to life and suddenly the crowd were treated to a thrilling end to end match with both teams looking to add to their tally. Fremington had started to cause the Uni defence all sorts of problems and not before long they were level. Uni ‘keeper Ben Roberts let the ball run away from him as he tried to dribble into space and Will Jones was quick to punish the ‘keeper, latching on to a loose ball and finishing into an empty net to level the tie.
An entertaining first half ended with the scores level with it all to play for in the second period. After being punished for a slow start, Fremington had well and truly got themselves back into the game and it could go either way in the second half.
It was the University side who were quicker off the mark after half time, just like in the first forty five minutes, and they came close early in the second half as a hard shot from the edge of the box by Liam Morritt was saved well by Fremington ‘keeper Harry Watt doing well to push the ball to safety. Moments later, Sam Wade fired over the bar from the edge of the box as the Devon League side pushed for an opener to retake the lead.
Although the second half was mostly dominated by University of Exeter, with the Fremington defence staying strong and getting bodies in the way of every chance created, the North Devon side still had the odd chance of their own to put a foot into the final. A through ball by Hayden Phillips found Cohen Phillips who dragged his shot wide of the far post.
Fremington substitute Ollie Fosberry had a great run to score the winner as the clock ticked down when he went on a brilliant solo run. However, before he could get a shot away he was tackled which led to a quick break down the other end. Sam Wade found himself through on goal for University but his shot was well saved by Harry Watt who came out of his goal and made himself big to block the shot.
University had one more golden opportunity to win the game in the fourth minute of injury time as Bertie Whymark, who had received quite a lot of stick from the travelling Fremington fans, fired over the bar from the edge of the box.
With neither team able to find a winner, penalties were required to find out who would go up against Lapford in the Devon Premier Cup Final.
University of Exeter took the first penalty as Adam Macpherson put his spot kick into the top right, and the next two were scored by Ryan Elston and Sam Wade to give the Devon League side a 2-1 advantage. Miles Macree put his penalty over the top before Watt saved from James Wakefield; Josh Robinson also saw his saved before Matt Steer put his into the bottom right to give Uni a 3-1 advantage. Matt Goldsack scored emphatically into the roof of the net, Oliver Kavanagh saw his saved and Cohen Phillips scored to level the shoot-out at 3-3 meaning we were now in sudden death. Jack Smith scored for University, even though Watt managed to get his hand on it, before Ben Roberts saved from Kieran Cook to win the game for his side.
An entertaining match which could’ve gone either way in the end with the dreaded penalty shoot out needed to determine the finalist. University of Exeter will now play Lapford in the final of the Devon Premier Cup on Saturday 10th May.
University of Exeter team: Ben Roberts, Ben Harris, Bertie Whymark, Jack Smith, James Wakefield, Seb Limon, Sam Wade, Oliver Kavanagh, Adam Macpherson, Liam Morritt, Matt Steer
Subs: Harry Dunlop, Oliver Powell, Rory Nicoll, Alex Makris
Fremington team: Harry Watt, Will Jones, Matt Goldsack, Alex Boreham, Miles Macree, Jon Tossell, Kieran Cook, Archie Gammon, Hayden Phillips, Brandon Sharples, Cohen Phillips
Subs: Ryan Elston, Josh Robinson, Dan Edgar, Ollie Fosberry, Josh Arthur
