Dickens Heath FC vs Olympic Royals
4 - 3
27 November 2016 · Oakbourne & Coronation Football League<br>Division Two
Home cup match played on 27 November 2016.
Kicked off at 10:30 AM
4-3
vs Olympic Royals
Home cup match
<p>Dickens Heath took on Olympic Royals at the quarter final stage of the John Smiths cup in front of an excited LightHall crowd. (Julie White & Jack Tyler)
<p>Having never reached a semi-final before, the Dickens Heath players were clearly well up for this game and almost none had got totally hammered the night before.
<p>There was a nervy start to the game from both teams as they tried to suss each other out but it was Olympic Royals who broke the deadlock on 13 minutes with a well worked goal. This season Dickens Heath have been a lot more resilient than in previous seasons and this once again showed as they struck back through Jack McEvoy within 60 seconds of the re-start to level the score. Despite good chances at either end an evenly contested first half finished eith the score level at 1-1.
<p>The second half started and as has been the case far too often during the last 12 months, Dickens Heath started slowly and found themselves 2-1 down on 51 minutes after a good through ball was finished neatly. In reality, the scoreline could have been much worse had it not been for some great saves by Heath keeper Ben Scott. Before long Heath were 3-1 down and their hopes of reaching the semi-final were hanging by a thread.
<p>Heath rolled up their sleeves and knew that they had to give 110% to have any chance of getting anything from this game, and when Aidan Hearfield slotted home his 6th goal of the season you could sense that the game was starting to turn in Heaths favour.
<p>A couple of substitutions were made to bring on some fresh legs and in the 88th minute Hearfield scored again to take the game in to extra time.
<p>The first half of extra time was fairly uneventful as neither side wanted to give anything away and the half finished with the scores still level.
<p>After the restart Heath started to pick up the tempo and had a couple of chances to take the lead before Aidan Hearfield completed his hat-trick after the goalkeeper blasted the ball straight at him and left him through on goal and able to slot the ball in to an empty net.
<p>The crowd (Julie White & Jack Tyler) celebrated with mild excitement as Heath held out to win the game 4-3 AET.
<p>Man of the match was Ben Scott after a number of fantastic saves.
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<p>Dickens Heath will now play next weeks league opponents Kitts Green Dynamos in the semi-final. Date to be confirmed.