Crown Paints

Acregate Lane 0-6 Crown Paints

Poppy Signs Sunday Trophy semi-final

It was an eventful night in the second 2018/19 Poppy Signs Sunday Trophy semi-final, as Crown Paints ran our 6-0 winners over eight man Acregate Lane.

Just two minutes passed and Crown Paints took the lead following a foul on the edge of the area. Number seven, Danny Pilkington, stepped up and curled a beautiful free kick over the wall and into the top corner.

Minutes later, Jamie Edwards went on a blistering run past three Acregate Lane defenders to tee up Pilkington with a chance for his second from the edge of the area - but it went way over the crossbar on this occasion.

Acregate Lane had a fantastic opportunity to equalise on 22 minutes when striker, Paul Turner, was put clean through on goal. But for a sensational stop from the onrushing goalkeeper, Karl Brown, it would have been one a piece.

With five minutes to go in the first half, it was all hands on deck as an off the ball collision resulted in a brawl by the dugouts - the result being a straight red card to Acregate Lane’s Ryan Broomhead – the first of three for the evening!

With Acregate down to ten men, it didn’t take long for Crown Paints to double their lead thanks to a lovely effort inside the box from Karl Turner.

Just minutes after the restart, things became much worse for Acregate Lane as their alternative centre half, Ged Morris, was shown a second yellow card for a foul, resulting in his side having to face 40 minutes down to nine men.

And Crown Paints capitalised five minutes later - Tim Drugan made it 3-0 with a well timed finish after some great pass and move play from his team mates.

Substitute Danny Taylor then made it 4-0 on 63 minutes, with a beautiful little chip over the goalkeeper from inside the area.

With 20 minutes to go, Ryan Steele made it 5-0 from the penalty spot following a sliding challenge in the area. Steele took the penalty with great prowess, firing it home in the top right hand corner.

As the game came to a close, Acregate received their third red card of the match following another off the ball collision.

In the last minute of time, Ryan Steele made it 6-0 and sent Crown Paints into the Sunday Trophy Final where they will face Eleven Sports Media at Lancashire FA’s County Ground on 2 May.

Teams

Acregate Lane: Paul Howson, Luke Smith, Connor Bell, Ged Morris, Ryan Broomhead, Lee Smith, Bailey Barbour, Mikey Hindle, Paul Turner, Owen Thompson, Jack Anderson

Subs: Lewis Bell, Ashley Charles, Ryan Cromie, Matty Wignall, Lee Worden 

Crown Paints: Karl Brown, Kai Banks, Callum Hocter, Jamie Edwards, Tim Drugan, Luke McKenna, Danny Pilkington, Ant Lynch, Ryan Steele, Karl Turner, Connor Gaul

Subs: Joe Barnes, Chris Martin, Tom Egan, Danny Taylor, Matt Toples

Referee: Phillip Birkett

Assistants: Nigel Anderson & Stephen Owen

Fourth Official: Stephen Gregory