| U's 2 Harlow Town 1. (Essex Senior Cup QF) 23:07 - Jan 10 with 275 views | noah4x4 |
Top marks to Harlow Town — admittedly they had only one really threatening attack — and through it scored one goal — but they defended well and played decent football in midfield against a strong U’s XI.
An enthusiastic following of good humoured away supporters came along too for their ’cup final’; and made more noise than most Division One WHCS visitors. I believe there is a seven division difference — but it didn’t look that way and they left the pitch to justified all round applause.
First half, U’s had only one shot (and Harlow none!) - a good effort by Sanderson from 30 yards that produced an excellent save from their Goliath of a keeper. Frankly, the first 45 was pretty poor to watch, but the game sprung into life when Harlow took the lead soon after HT. This woke up the U’s and their work rate noticeably stepped up, and increased further as Harlow’s part time lower fitness levels became evident.
But who does Michael Rose think he is (e.g. Renaldo? Pele?) - when attempting a free kick shot from about 40 yards over a five man wall and against a seven foot tall and competent keeper? As luck would have it, he hit the wall and O’Toole had an easy tap in from the fortunate ricochet. However, O’Toole had a shocker (often had poor touch and sprayed too many stray passes), and didn’t look match fit to me. So score becomeds one all, and surely time for the U’s to use their professional advantage.
A Kem Izzet shot (yes, he did shoot and was on target!) is then acrobatically looped into the net by a defender own goal - using what appeared to be a Rooney style overhead kick. No doubt Kem will at least claim an ‘assist’ - as the U’s went two:one up - but otherwise the U’s were poor in attack — having plenty of good chances (but most hit row Z of the South Stand or the corner flag).
So who impressed? The U’s experienced defence was solid, and the even more experienced midfield was OK (just). Up front, Freddie Lapado seemed rather out of the game during H1 (but few passes were aimed at him - dunno why), but he came alive in H2. I have reported before that he looks a good prospect, and I would soon give him a chance on the First XI bench.
But the star for me was youngster, Olufemi that came on after about 60 minutes. A tiny chap, we joked that he looks like a VERY young Michael Jackson (e.g. in his Rocking Robin days), but he did far more than moonwalk down the right wing. Olufemi repeatedly beat and teased his full back, put in good crosses and ran his heart out. As usual, nobody in the box anticipating, but that wasn't his fault. Physically stronger than his apparent stature, yet probably too young for a First XI debut — deffo one to watch!
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| U's 2 Harlow Town 1. (Essex Senior Cup QF) on 00:06 - Jan 11 with 267 views | durham_exile |
Noah thanks for the report, Silverware beckons.
John Joe O'Toole is a mercurial talent, once match fit he will grace the first team.
Trouble is he seems to be taking an eternity to regain fitness.
Lapado ready to make the step up I wonder.
Up the U's |  |
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| U's 2 Harlow Town 1. (Essex Senior Cup QF) on 14:25 - Jan 11 with 258 views | RSCOSWORTH |
A win's a win!
I wouldn't be surprised to see O'Toole depart during this transfer window.
Would like to see Ladapo given a chance in the first team at same point in the near future. |  |
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| U's 2 Harlow Town 1. (Essex Senior Cup QF) on 18:49 - Jan 11 with 247 views | bwildered |
Lapado struggled to dominate his marker and must be at least another season away for first team duties .
The star of the show was the Harlow keeper Bossu who pulled of a excellent save in the first half , a good point blank save and one to one with Lapado in the second. He could not be faulted with either fortunate goal .
A industrialous display by the U's but never convincing and made hard work of braking down the vistors .
Luckily the air raid siren brought by the visting supporters was only used sparingly at the start and end of the game together when they scored. Lets hope they had a good night out at the WHCS, has their team performed with great credit .
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