Massey Ferguson 5 – 5 The Mikes Reserves (4-2 pens) Reaction
The Mikes Reserves suffered penalty heartbreak as they went out of the Midweek Floodlit Cup on spot kicks, following a quite amazing 5-5 draw at Banner Lane.
Looking to register their tenth successive cup win of the season, The Mikes flew out of the traps and totally dominated the early stages, but went behind to a goal against the run of play. They bounced back to take a deserved 2-1 half time lead, then added a third via a well-worked corner move. Massey pulled a goal back in controversial circumstances, and more controversy was to follow moments later as the home side equalised from an indirect free kick to take the game to extra time.
The Mikes showed their character once again, scoring twice in the first period to lead 5-3. Looking dead and buried, Massey pulled a goal just before the break in extra time, before finding another equaliser in the dying moments.
In the lottery of penalties, the home keeper produced two saves to see the Coventry side through to the semi-finals.
Joint Manager Rob Clarke reflected “It was a case of so near and yet so far. I’m still struggling to believe we lost. We have come away to a first team who are in the top six of the Midland Comb Premier and totally dominated them for large periods. We scored 5 excellent goals. However, we were naiive in the goals we conceded and need to learn that losing our discipline disrupted our concentration.
The lads are desperately upset by the second goal, which several Massey players in the penalty area said was not over the line. However, we were still 3-2 ahead and should have shown more maturity and reasserted ourselves on the game. The third goal was largely our own doing, but the free kick was taken nowhere near the right place, which definitely influenced the outcome – ten yards or so closer to the centre is a massive difference when it’s in the box.
In extra time, we came very strong again and looked comfortable at 5-3. We have a very young side that needs to learn how to close out games from those positions. Penalties are a lottery and anything can happen. The lads who stepped up showed great bottle and no one will criticise those who didn’t score. We hit the target with all our kicks, but their keeper made two great saves.
They need to remember how much this hurts and take the lessons on board, but also take the huge number of positives from the performance. We don’t face teams like this in the Reserve league, so it’s a fantastic learning experience for the lads. I’m proud of the performances they have produced in this cup, but it wasn’t to be tonight. Good luck to Massey for the rest of the competition.”
The Mikes Reserves are at home on Saturday 30th January (3:00pm), when they entertain Gresley Reserves in their first home Midland Combination Reserve Division fixture since 7th November.
