First Half

Cotgrave kicked off downhill today, with a place in the final up for grabs. Sherwood started lively, and played some great football, almost scoring in the opening few minutes. After several efforts Sherwood got their opener in the 15 th minute, after some good play. Sherwood doubled their lead in the 23 rd minute, and went in at half time with a comfortable 2-0 lead. Cotgrave never really troubled Sherwood in the first half, but did have a couple of half chances to get back into the game.

Half Time

Cotgrave 0- 2 Sherwood

Second Half

Sherwood got the second half underway, and almost scored within seconds of the restart. Cotgrave began to wake up, and looked like they wanted to give Sherwood a game. In the 31 st minute, Keenan Berry broke away from the Sherwood defence, and slotted the ball into the net to make it 2-1. Sherwood attacked straight from the kick off, and within seconds their striker was brought down in the box, which resulted in a penalty. Cotgrave were given a lifeline, as the penalty was blasted wide of the post. The miss should have spurred Cotgrave on, but it did the total opposite and Sherwood scored 4 goals in the space of four minutes on 35, 36, 37 & 38 minutes. Five minutes later Sherwood grabbed another 2 goals in the 43 rd & 44 th minute to make it 8-1. Cotgrave left it too late to make a comeback, but Keenan Berry grabbed another 2 goals on 47 & 48 to complete his hat trick.

Final Score

Cotgrave 3-8 Sherwood

Summary

First of all I would like to say what a fantastic achievement it was for our team to reach the semi final. We have beaten some very good teams along the way, including Ravenshead who are still top and unbeaten in their league. We also beat a very strong Wilford Mavericks side, which play 2 divisions above us. We didn’t perform as well as we could of today, but I’m not going to go on and on about the negatives. We have all improved individually, and as a team this season, and it has been fantastic to see the progress that we’ve made. For most of this afternoon, I’ve felt that the season has come to an end, but we still have 4 games to play. We still have plenty to play for in our final fixtures and could finish 4 th in the league if we win all our games. We may even play an important part in deciding who wins our league when we entertain Netherfield in a couple of week’s time. I’m sure we will bounce back from today’s defeat, and put in a good performance on Wednesday against Gotham.

Congratulations and good luck to Sherwood for reaching the final, you deserved your victory today.