Padiham Saints J.F.C

a truly memorable cup tie which had everthing. right from the kick off the game was end to end with the saints creating the better openings and having the ball cleared of thegoal line twice in quick succession 'then ossy broke on the counter attack and nearly scored themselves .the deadlock was broken when dec poked the ball home from close range after a goalmouth scramble .second half our problems began matty had to go off through illness and jay also had to through a badly damaged ankle ,so the rear guard action began with the subs conner cal and chris all performing well alongside mark at the back and it showed how much you wanted to hold on to your advantage when curtis ran from his own half and chased down the ball to near the ossy corner flag and winning a throw in collapsed in a heap out of pure exhaustion.ossy kept on creating chances but on a rare occassion we got in their half suds just failed to get on the end of a great cross from ben .then just before the end ossy got the goal from acorner to send the game into extra time .the lads were devastated but they rolled up their sleeves andbattled on bravely to force a penalty shootout and as so many times in the past they held their nerve for a truly memorable victory .to every single player i wouldlike to offer you congratulations once again on a truly outstanding performance, also for the tremendous support from the parents on the touchline thankyou.

Tremendous is a valid superlative to describe the way the lads battled against a very good Ossy side who wanted this game so badly. Some of the credit has to go to the penalty takers who were so cool in doing their job. None of the lads hesitated for a second, they placed the ball, waited for the whistle and struck the ball confidently.

I have to say that Ossy weren't that confident, just before the shootout began I heard the Ossy coach telling his lads he didn't want to here that whatever that was and that if you miss you miss. Just maybe we had the edge there. Unfortunately for them they did have a couple of miss's that gave Saints their win but we still had to stick them away. You're a brave lad when you step up to the spot.

Well done again to all the Rooks on your fine performance and just look at the league table, how good does that look coming up to Christmas?

You mentioned Matty coming off at half time ill, I'm surprised he could have played at all with that bad chest and cough. I was talking to young Mark at St Leonards and he's been the same this week I believe. Sudds was the same the other week and yet these lads still go out and give it their best to contribute to the teams success.
Well done lads it'll be worth your efforts at the end of the season.

Hope Jay's ankle injury is ok and he's fit for this week, nice to be carried back to the car yesterday by James, might just give him a job when my pins are not feeling up to it.