Match Report
Holders, Chester le Street Town made it through to the final of the Ernest Armstrong Cup with a penalty shoot-out victory after their tie against Willington had ended 1-1. After 22 minutes, a good, passing move y Willington saw the ball played into the Chester area and a final pass was played to Jonathan Wright who turned well to fire a shot just wide of the post. Willington made the breakthrough after 30 minutes when the ball was played down the right and then into the box for Dean Thexton to turn well, beat two defenders and slip the ball into the net. Willington came close to a second goal after 42 minutes when Thexton hit a pass from the right over to the left for Wright to beat the offside trap and raced into the box but Max Coombes was quickly off his line to make a good block. After 49 minutes, a quick break saw Wright race past two defenders into the area to fire a shot across goal with Coombes making a good save at full stretch to turn the ball away for a corner. After 72 minutes, another quick break set Wright racing through but Coombes made another good block with his feet. Chester restored parity after 78 minutes when Jack Oliver raced into the Willington area and was brought down by Scott Oldfield with Craig Marron converting the penalty. Chester pressed hard in the final ten minutes but could not find a way past the Willington defence. In the penalty shoot-out the first ten penalties were converted. The only time a keeper came close to making a save was the final one when Craig Hannant got a hand to Kevin Dixon’s spot kick but could not prevent it going into the net. And so to sudden death. Coombes made a great save from Nathan Plews and Alexander Walker stepped up to crash the ball into the roof of the net to take Chester through.
Team: Maximiliano Coombes, Connor Lyon (Christopher Stephenson, 78 minutes), Rhys Turnbull, Craig Marron, Alexander Walker, Kevin Dixon, Kieran Megran, Joe Grant, Scott Robson (Jack Oliver, 73 mins), Andrew Clarkson (Joshua King, 63 mins), Michael Hepplwhite. Subs Not Used : Daniel Candlish, Calum Greaves.
