Cavaliers FC 0-5 Carlton Town (Nottinghamshire Senior Cup Q/F, 14/1/14

Selhurst Street (Radford FC)         Nottinghamshire Senior Cup Q/F       Tuesday January 14th 2014

Carlton’s quest for a 2nd successive Nottinghamshire Senior Cup continued last night as the progressed to the Semi Finals after a comfortable 5-0 win over a spirited Cavaliers side.

1st half Action. Carlton in yellow on the attack

After stumbling across a tweet advertising the game, and with nothing to do that night and no Uni early on Wednesday. I thought I’d pop down and have a look. The game was being played at a neutral venue, which initially made me think it was a final, but alas, I was wrong.

This blog had covered the Cavaliers team only 3 days prior (Nick Upton’s match report can be found at https://underthefloodlightsblog.wordpress.com/fc-cavaliers-v-boots-athletic-precision-notts-senior-league-110114/)

He predicted an easy Carlton win and in truth, the Millers- 3 divisions higher than Cavaliers- were rarely troubled.

My journey from Clifton began at 6:30 and then it was a pleasant evening but bang on kickoff, the 83 people in attendance were subject to heavy rain, but not after my Sausage Cob & Chips had been eaten (£3.50 for that, a Kitkat chunky and a tea is very fair value).

Clubhouse End, Selhurst Street. Radford FC

Carlton began to look comfortable on the ball immediately, with Cavaliers reluctant to press too hard and with their first meaningful attack on 2 minutes, the Millers went 1 up. A long ball from the left back from Lee Torr found its way to Reuben Wiggins-Thomas and the striker slotted past David Marrt in goal.

Carlton continued to press and should’ve gone 2 up a few minutes later but Wiggins-Thomas took a touch too many when he was 1 on 1 with Marrt.

But shortly after, Alex Troke did make it 2-0 with an easy tap-in after good work down the right hand side by Thompson- who beat the offside trap to square the ball across goal.

At this point, I really feared for Cavaliers that it could be a real hiding, but to be fair, they showed some resilience to get through the rest of the half unscathed, despite a couple of efforts from Carlton narrowly going over the top. Cavaliers actually almost got back into the game themselves as a Joseph free kick from the left hand channel was headed just wide at the back post by Croft.

Whilst Carlton could’ve been accused of being a touch sloppy as the 1st half wore on, they came out much more lively at the start of the 2nd half and were rewarded with a third goal as Wiggins-Thomas headed in from close range after a cross from the wide right went over the Cavaliers keeper to the back post for the short striker to have a tap-in.

However Wiggins-Thomas would miss a golden chance for his hattrick as Carlton piled on more pressure. Troke’s free kick was laid off and a powerful 25 yarder from Jordan Vilums was only parried by Marrt to the striker, who somehow blasted over from 6 yards with the goal at his mercy.

Substitute Anton Robinson then almost made a swift impression, but his close range shot was well blocked before Croft tested the Carlton keeper Jonathan Viscosi with a low drive on a greasy surface, but despite being largely a spectator, Vescosi dealt with it well.

Carlton did go 4-0 up on 76 minutes with my favourite goal of the game. Josh Thornton, who had a lively game on the left wing got to the byline and cut back for Danny Elliot, who took a touch to compose himself and curled home a neat shot from 18 yards

Cavaliers, to their credit, kept going despite the obvious gulf in quality, and nearly scored a spectacular goal of their own through Doyle’s dipping half volley, which went just over, but moments later, a long ball downfield was not dealt with and Troke nipped in to roll the ball under Marrt to complete the scoring for the night.

Carlton had further chances to make it 6, the best of which came after a mazy run by Wiggins-Thomas right at the death, beating a series of challenges in the box, but wanting 1 touch too many and Marrt smothered his shot. It was shades of Ricky Villa in 1981 or Archie Gemmil against the Dutch, but without the finish it deserved.

But an enjoyable evening and some well worked goals. Carlton go through to the semi finals.

Action from the closing stages

Cavaliers: Martt, Williams, Doyle, Swaby, McCoy, Ofushine, Cross, Brown, Aboubacar, Joseph, Croft. Subs: Grinkley, Taylor, Cross, Mendy, Barnes.

Carlton: Viscosi, Brindley, Bennett, Troke, Torr, Ball, Thornton, Keane, Wiggins-Thomas, Flynn, Vilums. Subs: Elliott, Kearney, Robinson

Referee- Sean Richardson

Attendance: 83

Match Rating 7/10- Never really a contest but some neat play at times and some well taken goals.