Cradley Town 1 - 4 Boldmere St. Michaels
The Mikes retained their grip on the Walsall Senior Cup with a comprehensive victory at MFA rivals Cradley Town.
The win served to emphasise the impressive strength in depth at the club - the starting line up showed no fewer than 10 changes from the win at Bridgnorth, with several players making first team debuts.
The home side started the brighter and took an early lead after 2 minutes. A misdirected header meant for debutant keeper Sean Butler fell straight into the path of the onrushing striker who despatched the chance in clinical fashion.
Seconds later, another wayward header gave Cradley the chance to double their lead, only to be denied by the woodwork.
The Mikes began to settle and hit back to level within a few minutes. A set peice was partially cleared to Anthony Juxon, who rifled home a low drive from 18 yards.
With the Mikes in the ascendancy, it was soon 2-1. A superb flick from Mark Mason released Tom Clews down the left flank. An impressive change of pace let his defender for dead. Reaching the by line, he cut the ball back for the onrushing Andy Lewis, who marked his first start by firing first-time into the top corner from 15 yards.
With the defence looking more secure after their early wobbles, it was all Boldmere. Out of nothing wide on the left, Kieran Robinson fired a loose ball at goal from fully 40 yeards. In the home goal, former Mikes custodian Adam Lane produced an excellent save to palm the ball away for a corner.
Moments later a piece of misfortune for Lane resulted in the Mikes extending their lead. Robinson got to the by-line and lofted a teasing cross towards the far post. Lane made good ground across the goal and chose to make the catch, but his momentum saw him clatter into the far post, the ball slipping over the line to give the Mikes a two-goal cushion at the break.
The Mikes started the second half slowly, with the home side reminding the Mikes that the contest was not over, but were unable to make the most of a couple of early half chances.
A half-time downpour had left the pitch slippery under foot and the game became scrappy. A numer of substitutions further disrupted the flow of the game. Sean Butler was called upon to make a couple of fine saves to preserve the lead, but the Mikes always looked comfortable.
With the game turning somewhat ill-tempered, the Mikes regained total control for the last 15 minutes. The win was sealed with a superb individual goal from Simeon Tulloch. Facing away from goal wide on the goal line, he turned his marker inside out before cutting in to fire past Lane into the bottom corner.
Rob Mallaband was uinderstandably pleased with the result, particularly as a number of players had been without football for a number of weeks.
The Mikes now face Oldbury United on home soil in the quarter finals.
Boldmere: Sean Butler, Tom Stevenson, Jack Brown, Neil Hanlon, Andre Calder, Anthony Juxon, Simeon Tulloch, Andy Lewis, Mark Mason, Tom Clews, Keiran Robinson.
Subs: Jamel Fuller (for Mason), Scott Barker (Juxon), Kevin Buxton (Clews), John Rutter, Rob Clarke.
