Molesey vs Colliers Wood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_daSpn1Y-EA

A cracker of a cup tie in the Surrey Senior Cup saw Molesey narrowly beat Colliers Wood to secure a game against Sutton United in the Quarter Final. The night started disappointingly for me, with the news that the match programmes had not arrived, meaning for the first time in 2 years I didn’t have a match programme from a game I’d been to. The excitement of the game soon made up for this though. Right from the off it looked clear that Molesey were the more physical team who would put more crosses in and be superior in the air, whereas Colliers Wood had more skill on the ball and would look for delicate through balls to find the net. The contrast in the two teams styles of play made for an interesting game.

Molesey started stronger and took a deserved lead when Paul Cross got on the end of a cross after 15 minutes. This setback seemed to fire Colliers Wood up and after putting pressure on their opponents they eventually equalised in the 24^th minute courtesy of a Mario Embalo volley. Molesey seemed to be second best from this point on and struggled to create much in the way of chances, with Colliers Wood passing them off the pitch at times. Despite their dominance though, Colliers Wood couldn’t get another goal before half time

Molesey came out stronger in the second half and pressed Colliers Wood more, breaking up their passing game. Both teams cancelled each other out and there wasn’t as much excitement as in the first half, although a few good chances came along. The first incident of the second half was a bizarre one. Everyone in the ground though Colliers Wood had taken the lead when they put the ball into the net at around 50 minutes but the ‘goal’ was correctly disallowed as the ball had gone in through the side netting. The Wood should then have taken the lead but their centre forward put wide when 1 on  1 with the Molesey keeper. The second half finished with both sides hitting the crossbar from set pieces

Extra time was a very exciting affair that really summed up what the Surrey Senior Cup can mean to clubs despite its lowly status. Colliers Wood took the lead when two strikers cleverly beat the offside trap and the ball was squared to Mario Embalo, who couldn’t miss. Molesey threw men forward and got an equaliser when Centre back Kristian Webb flicked the ball up on the edge of the box before firing home, a truly fantastic finish. Both sides then went for the winner before Molesey were awarded a penalty for handball. Joe Pratley-Jones stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way to send Molesey into the quarter final where they will face Sutton United.