St Johns 1 0 vs 1 Affinity FC

<p>A cup semi-final against St Johns 1 has a certain ring to it!&nbsp; Both teams came into the game on the back of a good result and with two tight league games played between the teams this year both there was no clear favourite to make the final.

<p>Affinity started confidently and enjoyed most of the early possession stroking the ball around nicely on both sides of the field.&nbsp; The decision to play five across the midfield with Gurps the lone front man was somewhat forced but played to the strengths of the team on the day.

<p>The defence looked strong and dealt with all of St Johns early advances comfortably.&nbsp; Josh P replacing a recovering Gary B in goal was vocal helping both defence and midfield keep their shape.&nbsp; Gurps had the first chance of the game exchanging a one two with Mike seeing his shot rising over the bar.&nbsp; With St Johns keeping their four across the back it was obvious that chances would need to be made from midfielders coming through to support Gurps.&nbsp; Affinity's best chance of the first half came as Mike burst through beating two defenders with the goalie saving with his legs when it looked like a goal beckoned.

<p>St Johns steadily increased their possession as the half went on and Affinity lost a bit of shape at the back.&nbsp; St Johns had a umber of chances with Josh making several fine saves to keep the scores level.

<p>Half time brought a chance to regroup and remind the team to keep a good shape and be tighter on opponents.&nbsp; Having already put in a good first half shift tiredness would become a factor for both sides.&nbsp; With tiredness comes poor decision making and it was St Johns who were most guilty of this and ultimately would pay the price for it.

<p>The game opened up with chances for both sides.&nbsp; St Johns favouring their right hand side kept Jobo and Luke honest but Affinity had to thank Josh on a number of occasions for fine saves that kept the scores level.&nbsp; It wasn't all backs to the wall defending though with Affinity pushing forward from both sides and the middle reminding St Johns that switching off wasn't an option.

<p>The first goal of the game came as Mike forced a mistake from a defensive throw in, taking the ball from the defender and placing it powerfully past the oncoming keeper.&nbsp; Celebrations followed but with 20 minutes still to go there was still plenty of time for things to change.&nbsp; During a long last twenty minutes Affinity soaked up a lot of pressure and St Johns did have chances but there was an air of confidence as well as dogged determination not to be beaten by the Affinity team.

<p>This attitude was epitomised by the defence of a series of corners that would almost certainly have resulted in an opposition goal earlier in the season.&nbsp; The final whistle was met with further celebrations as Affinity's season builds to a potentially silver winning conclusion when only a matter of weeks before potentially looked like petering out with a whimper.

<p>As with the previous game the team performance was something to be proud of.&nbsp; However, special note has to be made of Josh's performance between the sticks as without it the writer suspects the result may have ended differently!&nbsp; For one last time this season #wegoagain next Saturday