MATCH REPORT: Chaddy Suffer Late Semi-Final heartbreak

Written by Jacob Jones

Our Manchester Premier Cup campaign has come to an unfortunate end in the semi-final stage, bowing out to a devastating deflected freekick in the closing stages of the game.

James Purfield captained the side for this massive clash at the Vestacare Stadium under the lights. The game took a fair bit of time to get to the tempo that fans would expect from a semi-final with both teams enjoying spells of possession within the first twenty minutes.

But the deadlock was broken in the 23^rd minute by our striker, Harry Lynn, who continues to impress during his current loan spell. The move for this goal started with Dale Latham in our own box who released a quick ball out wide, leading to a lofted pass ending up at the feet of Lynn, whose finish was calm and collected as he slotted the ball past the Irlam goalkeeper Elliot Wynne.

Irlam changed our halftime team talk late in the first half, a scintillating run through the middle-allowed defender Alex Francis to loft the ball from just outside of the box. The resulting shot was so good that it caught Dale Latham completely off guard and evened the score line once more.

This equaliser will have had Irlam believing once again, but it was a very even game at the beginning of the second half. However, we were unfortunate to fall behind after yet another good goal for Irlam through Ethan Cartwright.

We wasted little time getting back into the game, a thunderous volley by our captain James Purfield put us back on level terms. This led to the crowd getting right behind us and a good chance for Barlow forced a good save from the Irlam goalkeeper shortly after following some really good football from us.

But disaster would strike in additional time when John Main’s free-kick took a wicked deflection, taking it past Dale Latham in goal and putting a subsequent end to our Manchester Premier Cup campaign.

Although we are disappointed, this cup run was something that we can be very proud of. We now turn our attention back to league action, we will welcome Burscough tonight and we are fully focussed on getting back to winning ways.

#UpTheChad