Sunninghill Out of County Cup after Extra Time Defeat...
Sunninghill Fc today bowed out of the County Cup in the second round after a 2-1 defeat to Reading Sunday league side Richfield Rovers.
Manager Clinton Harcup was not at the game and chose to rest a couple of players, notably Rob Forde, Jon Bennett and Tim Finch, with the latter 2 taking up a place on the bench.
The away side started very brightly passing the ball around well on the difficult Victory fields surface, with Sunninghill struggling to retain possession which led to Richfield spending much of the half on top, and they took an early lead when Rob Harcups underhit backpass left Reagan in trouble, and as he managed to beat the striker to the ball, but his tackle sent the ball to a Richfield midfielder to smash the ball back into the top corner of the net from a full 30 yards.
Richfield cotinued to dominate proceedings, but a combination of woeful finishing and a superb defensive display from debutant Hallt, Rob Harcup and usual fullbacks Zutshi and Riding kept the score at 1-0, and Sunninghill should have gone in on level terms when a ball through found Ward and with just the keeper to beat scuffed his effort straight at the keeper.
Half Time came with manager for the day McDowell making one change replacing Charlie Harcup with Bennett going up front, and Ward moving to the right side of midfield, and from the kick off Sunninghill came out with more intent, pushing Richfield back, the ball now seemed to be kept a lot better as Richfield now looked like they might be punished for not taking earlier chances.
The equaliser came 5 minutes into the half when a long kick was won in the air by Bennett, who headed out wide to Underwood, the left winger held onto the ball waiting for Bennett to make his run before whipping a superb ball into the strikers path, and he made no mistake powerfully heading home from 12 yards out to bring the scores level.
The home side could have taken the lead when second half sub Gurr on for Riding clipped a great ball in behind the defence but Bennett scuffed his effort wide of the far post. Soon after Reagan had to be alert to push a fierce effort from range over the crossbar, and claimed the ball well from the resulting corner,
Richfield produced some neat build up play but as soon as they reached the final 3rd as the majority of attacks were superbly dealt with by Man of the Match Hallt who dominated everything in the air as well as on the deck.
At 90 minutes the scores were locked at 1-1 and after a quick change round the first half of extra time carried on in the same fashion as you could sense thie game would be decided on penalties.
5 minutes into the second period of extra time the game was decided when the lively Richfield left winger whipped in a dangerous ball behind the back line, where the unfortunate Hallt got to the ball first but could only divert into his own net past the despairing dive of Reagan.
An unfortunate end to the game but on the balance of play a victory that the away side just about deserved and good luck to them in the next round, after a well contested game today.
Player Ratings
Chris Reagan - Couldnt be faulted for goals, pulled off a couple of very good saves. 8.
Jai Zutshi - Solid defensively, wasnt able to get forward as much as recent weeks. 7.
Rob Harcup - Solid display, looked to start play from the back. 7.
Stuart Hallt - Excellent display, didnt give opposition a sniff for 120 minutes before unfortunate own goal. 9.
Martin Riding - Solid as usual, also unable to get forward as much before being withdrawn injured . 7.
Charlie Harcup - Struggled to make an impact in first 45 minutes before being replaced. 6.
Dan Parker - Battled well as usual, won a lot in the air and tried to play the ball on the deck. 7.
Paul McDowell - Good touches, and dominated in the air, looked to link play between midfield and forwards. 7.
Toby Underwood - Worked hard but failed to make real impact on game, showed class with excellent cross for equaliser. 7.
Dave Barron - First game for 6 weeks after injury and showed some neat touches, still lacking match fitness. 6.
Mike Ward - Struggled to make an impact before beign moved to the right, seemed off the pace today. 6.
Subs :
Jon Bennett - Half Time introduction took goal well, could have had couple more but finishing not up to scratch. 7.
Tim Finch - Worked hard up front gave more of a physical presence but was unable to really cause back line problems. 6.
John Gurr - Came on unfamiliar left back role and was solid, looked to get forward to support forwards. 7.
