HUNTS FA SENIOR CHALLENGE CUP SEMI FINAL

St Neots Town        1         Eaton Socon         0

St Neots made hard work of this narrow victory over their lower-graded neighbours to reach their first Hunts Senior Cup Final for six years.   Visting Eaton Socon did themselves proud in defeat pushing their hosts for the whole of the match and were unlucky not to win a penalty shoot-out decider. St Neots were outplayed at times by their opponents and never reached the level of momentum that has taken them to the top of their league table. They fielded their usual league side with just the single change of teenage full back Robbie Sutherland coming in at full back for Christian Tavernier, but they lacked the rhythm and confidence displayed in recent outings.They will face St Ives Town in their first Senior Cup Final for six years as they attempt to lift the trophy for the first time since 2018 when they had beaten St Ives in that seasons’ semi-final.

St Neots began well enough with plenty of possession in the opening quarter of an hour. Michael Amaeshike broke through the visiting defence after ten minutes but dragged his shot wide and then defender Murphy Culkin saw a searching cross pushed away at full length by the visiting goalkeeper. Gradually the visiting side gathered confidence and in a confident first half spell they created a couple of good chances but both Hayden Armiger and Ben Hickling saw their efforts both blocked by defenders. St Neots were having to defend in numbers but after 33 minutes they broke away to get the ball in the Socon net only to be thwarted by an offside flag. Just before half time the visitors created the clearest first half chance and when Jake Williams’ shot was parried at full stretch by James Goff the ball fell to Dom Mason, but his free shot was disappointingly wide. St Neots better chances emanated from searching runs down the left by Harvey Williams, but his crosses failed to find a home forward.

St Neots made a half time change replacing Robbie Sutherland with Christian Tavernier with Sam Willis moving to full back and a Willis corner presented Kieran Barnes with a shooting opportunity, but his effort was wide of its target. The visitors growing in confidence then had their best spell of the match dominating play from midfield.  Goff had to dive bravely at the feet of Armiger after the home defence was breached, and a dipping free kick by Mason was pushed over the crossbar by the home keeper. St Neots retaliated with a coupled of breakaway attacks with Barnes firing wide and Thorpe testing Shay Griffiths with a rising shot. Then after 69 minutes a cross from the right to the far post from Connor Furlong set up Harvey Williams who netted with a low shot to open the scoring.

Any thoughts of that signalling a spell of St Neots pressure were quickly dispelled as Socon hit back but they lost Mason to the sin bin which did not help their cause. Griffiths then kept Socon’s lingering hopes alive when he denied Williams a second goal but a series of substitutions by both sides added valuable minutes to the match which ended with Socon unsuccessfully bombarding the home defence which stood firm until the final whistle.

 

 

 

 

 

Tonight’s Saints Supporters’ Man of the Match- In Association with The Greystones Public House, Sawtry – JAMES GOFF

 

 

St Neots Town:  Goff, Sutherland, Culkin, Willis, Parker, Bowen, Furlong, Amaeshike, Thorpe, Barnes, Williams

Subs:  Tavernier (for Sutherland 46 mins), Baulk (for Furlong 78 mins), Hatch (for Thorpe 87 mins), Jessop and Fox.

Cards:  Thorpe (Y – 82 mins)

Eaton Socon:  Griffiths, Hickling, Fisher-Diaz, Buckle. Roberts, Ducket (R), Mason, Ducket (R), Williams, Burnside, Armiger

Subs:  Ryan(for Armiger 85 mins), Ansell-Carter (for Mason 88 mins), Dawkes (for Fisher-Diaz 88 mins), and Banton.

Cards: Burnside (Y – 61 mins),

Attendance: 243

Referee:  Ryan Andrews

 (John Walker)