THCC FC 3 - 2 ELT, League, 31st Jan 2009

Starting line-up: Jamal Holder (GK), Matt Taylor (LB), Eddie Stride (CB), Michael Penman (CB), Scott Barnard (RB), Lee Thomson (LW), Luke Bingham (CM), Oli Taylor (CM), Aaron Richards (RW), Israel Toko (ST), Stephen Bingham (ST)  Bench: Mark Bowtell, Jonathan John  

Intro: Today's cup quarter final tie against our local rivals East London Tabernacle was always going to be a hotly contested affair. Our previous encounter ended in a 2-2 draw so it was clear that it could go either way. Tower got the choice of ends and chose to start with the cold and powerful wind behind them. This was a big asset as we pushed ELT back and had quite a few early chances. Stephen, Lee and Israel combined well on a couple of occasions and Aaron had a couple of long range efforts. However, ELT were counter-attacking well and they cleverly crafted a couple of chances with quick one-two's in amongst our defence but didn't manage to get real quality on their finshes. Another attempt saw a good run from an ELT forward and a shot from him which was heading for the top corner but Jamal was well placed to pluck it out of the air. After about 20 mins, some real quality finishing was indeed displayed but thankfully it was down at the other end. Luke Bingham intercepted an ELT pass in midfield and quickly played a neat ball along the floor to Israel. Israel turned his man and bore down on the remaining defenders. As they backed-off, he side stepped one and shot low and hard across the goal keeper into the bottom corner, stretching the inside of the side netting. 1-0 to the Tower! Minutes laters, Oli Taylor picked up the ball in midfield and played a superb cross-field ball over the defence to send Israel through one-on-one with the keeper. Israel cooly dribbled the ball round the goal keeper and tapped into the open net. The first half ended with no further goals. An all round good first half performance.

HT (2 - 0): The wind was still strong and now in the favour of ELT who were eager to pull themselves back into this game. Tower were certainly finding it hard to defend against the wind and the goal kicks weren't getting too far! However, there was no early breakthrough for ELT despite them starting to have a lot more forward possession. Now it was Tower who were having sporadic counter-attacks, including a shot by Stephen Bingham onto the crossbar, setup by a driving run from Oli Taylor down the left wing and round the back of the defence. Mark Bowtell and JJ were introduced to the fray for the Taylor's (Oli and Matt who both played excelently incidently). Still no change to the scoreline. ELT were not about to lie down and die though and continued to attack at every possible opportunity. Eventually the pressure paid off as a badly defended ball over the top was rifled in off the post by one of ELT's more senior players, who clearly still has his touch. Woe upon woe, after a flurry of corner kicks, with about 15 minutes left, another well delivered corner was met at the back post by an ELT player who headed down and the ball bounced up into the roof of the net, out of reach of the Tower defence and goal keeper. ELT clearly had the momentum now, but the equaliser seemed to spark Tower back into life. Both wingers worked tirelessly to help out the full backs, as did the centre mid's to shield the defence. As we desperately tried to hold ELT back and defend against numerous set pieces we even had all 11 of our players defending at some points. Credit must be given to Tower for sticking to their passing game though and with not long left we managed to push ourselves back in front. Stephen played a ball into his strike partner Israel who managed to turn his man and was bearing down on goal. However, the ball looked like it had got away from him. As it rolled in between the goal keeper and an ELT defender, there was clearly some confusion and as Israel closed them down the defender somehow knocked the ball past his own keeper and towards the goal leaving Israel the simple task of tapping it in. Tower continued to defend resolutely, not without mistake but certainly with all their efforts. ELT almost got an equaliser in the last 5 minutes, a thundering shot headed for the top corner but Jamal was well positioned again and got two solid hands behind it to force it over the bar. Bring on the semi's! FT (3-2)

BIG THANKS TO THOSE WHO CAME TO SUPPORT: David Penman