Cup Glory for the Reserves

Penn & Tylers Green FC Reserves 5 – Henley Town Reserves 0

The Cup Winners

Penn & Tylers Green FC Reserves finished the season on a high by winning the President’s Challenge Cup against Henley Town Reserves at Wilks Park, Flackwell Heath last night.

On a warm evening in front of a decent attendance just across the valley at Wilks Park Penn & Tylers Green FC vowed to forget their disappointment of losing in the Wycombe Junior Cup Final against Chalfont Wasps last week and were determined to put in a much stronger performance than last Thursday.

Whatever manager Steve Laing and assistant manager Neil Cannings supported by their coaches John Grimsdell and Paul Benning said to the players in the dressing room before the game certainly worked. Maybe it was down to tonight’s mascots Zack and Jack.

Collecting the Medals

Tonight’s performance was a totally different story from last week. The boys were solid and strong in defence for the entire game and not just 20 minutes. The midfield was creative, dangerous with their wing play and the forwards were a threat for the entire 90 minutes of the game.

Any early nerves were calmed when Penn & Tylers Green FC took the lead in the 19th minute with Dean Munday scoring from a towering header after a cross from the left. The lead was doubled shortly after that when Michael Benning scored with a brilliant volley from the edge of the box in 21st minute. The boys managed to protect this lead with positive attacking football until half time.

We are the Champions

After brief refreshment kindly provided by Flackwell Heath, our hospitable host for the night, the “three wise men” (should really read “grumpy old men” – Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Secretary) kept their fingers crossed hoping that Penn & Tylers Green FC can build on the first half performance.

They needn’t have worried. Although it took until the 78th minute for the boys in blue & white to score again the team created many more good chances and should have been leading by a higher margin. The game was finally put to bed when Adam Weedon scored from the edge of the box.

The goal of the night was scored by Michael Benning in the 90th minute after fantastic team play with an excellent unselfish passing move involving Andre Moses and Luke Cohen. This was just good to watch.

The icing on the cake came when young Luke Cohen scored a fifth goal in injury time beating the keeper after a run from the half way line.

Happy Captain

When captain James Beaumont lifted the cup the celebrations in front of all the loyal Penn & Tylers Green Supporters could – no doubt – be heard back at French School Meadows.

Team: Howard Holmes, Tim Collins, Adam Weedon, Albert O’Rourke, Dean Munday, Paul Lindsay, Gary Crick, Michael Benning, James Beaumont (c), Tim Barber, Ben Vicos

Substitutes: Sam Prendergast (played), Luke Cohen (played), Andre Moses (played), Anthony Taylor, John Harding

Scorers: Michael Benning (2), Adam Weedon, Dean Munday, Luke Cohen

Man of the match: Michael Benning

Match report by Andreas Latta (Secretary)