Cup games…whether you love them or hate them, they exist. Just a couple of weeks ago we were beating Bourne Town at home in blistering heat to progress in the Sports Development UCL Cup, and tonight we beat a plucky West Bridgford team in completely contrasting climates. On arrival to the ground you were met with sharp winds, and as kick-off approached I was reminded to wrap up next time there is a late start. The lineups were released, and bar the exclusion of Jevin Seaton, the next noticeable point was the appearance of freshly signed Connaire Seery on the bench. A hyped-up name by a couple of people, he was one I was keeping an eye out for.

The game started off fast, with Radford getting a chance straight away as some fine passing put the West Bridgford goalkeeper into the game as he scooped up the ball. Just 3 minutes later there were more updates, as Radford’s attacking prowess saw them win a handful of free-kicks, and get a nice number of shots at the West Bridgford goal. In the tenth minute, we got to witness one of the best bits of play, as Scott ‘Tank’ Litchfield, Calrick Dunkley, Greg Tobin, and Janaydan Hare all linked up with one another as they passed and swept the ball around the West Bridgford defence, before ultimately fluffing the shot up at the final hurdle. It wasn’t a downright negative though, as Radford kept attacking and pummeling a West Bridgford team that seemed trapped in their own chaos. The breakthrough came in the 28th minute, as the ball pinged about the box before falling to Tank, who took the ball into his control and prodded it through the keeper and into the net. Was it a pretty goal? No. Did it put Radford ahead? Oh yes, it did, and that is all that matters.

The rest of the first half was the same as before, with the first negative against Radford being a booking for Nathaniel Peters, which took forty minutes to happen. A lot of Radford attacks occurred around that event, which saw us come closer and closer to a second goal. However, capitalising was not our strong suit, and as we entered the interval it was still 1-0 to Radford. A nice scoreline, but one that could have been so much better. Brisk winds were becoming slightly painful, and despite weather apps claiming it was 18 degrees Celsius, it did feel much more chilly than that.

The second half kicked off, and off the bat, you could tell something wasn’t the same as what the first produced. West Bridgford seemed to have been told something useful, as they became a lot more defensively resilient and the ball barely touched either team’s box for a solid chunk of time. Neither side could make anything successful from their passing, and the referee was happy to blow for free kicks at any opportunity, which both slowed the game down and yet sped it up in terms of shots on goal. An enthralling fixture, I can’t remember many other times when I struggled to keep up with the Twitter updates.

Mitchell Tait was the second Radford player to enter the book, as his anger throughout the game seemed to finally bubble over as he clipped a West Bridgford player and got a yellow card for that action. West Bridgford’s subsequent free kick was blazed over the bar, and that was what they did for a long time with every shot, up until the 75th minute. Oluyinka Abebowale was having a pretty lacklustre game, not of his own fault, but rather because he was never really tested by any shot. But in the aforementioned minute, a West Bridgford free kick was whipped in, and as it pinged and ricocheted about it seemed to be anyone’s ball, and a West Bridgford player got to it first and he looked set to score, but Yinka somehow got down and smothered the ball in the nick of time. This was his first of three sublime bits of action from him as a free kick for Radford following a West Bridgford offside saw Yinka pump the ball forward. What happened next was bizarre, as the strong winds scooped the ball further and further, and it bounced heavily just in front of the waiting West Bridgford keeper, who scrambled back and saw the ball narrowly go wide. A wild moment that could’ve seen our number 1 get goal number 2. Just minutes later he cemented his hero status though, as West Bridgford got a chance in the final seconds of the game, but Yinka was there to save both the first shot, and the point-blank follow-up to keep the Radford goal empty, and the scoreline the same.

Whether you credit the win to Tank’s prodded goal or Yinka’s sublime stops, there is no denying the fact that Radford won 1-0, and now progress to the next round of the cup, where we can face the likes of Notts County, Nottingham Forest’s U21 side or Mansfield Town, amongst other names.

Lineups

Radford FC:
O. Abebowale, C. Rowe, M. Tait {W. Bailey(87′)}, C. Moore, J. McLaughlin, N. Peters {D. Boafo(95′)}, C. Meakin {M. Fitzhugh (56′)}, Greg Tobin {S. Devlin (70′)}, J. Hare {C. Seery (56′)}, S. Litchfield [x1, (24′)], C. Dunkley

Unused subs: N/A

West Bridgford FC:

Courtney Bartley, Anraj Bath {Lamin Jassey(65′)}, Samuel Clark, Harvey Grice {Kodi Woolley(5′)}, Felix Hogg {Rav Jackson(46′)}, Nicholas Knight, Ryan Krause, John Mustapha {Reuben Gaude(55′)}, Jahred Russell, Joshua Steer, Callum Wolloch {Richemone Sylla(70′)}

Unused subs: N/A

(West Bridgford players may not be in positional order due to info being taken from The FA website)

{} – Player brought on in substitution

[] – Goal

() – Minute