With only 30 sec’s of normal time remaining, Darren White had the ball down the left (not wanting extra time as he was in a rush to get back to the R&C and tuck into the sandwiches) sent over a curling cross which Kofi met full on the volley from just outside the box, as the ball flew off the post and into the goal with the keeper nowhere, the rest of the team mobbed Kofi and the 2000 strong crowd went crazy after he had single handedly won County Hall the Division 2 cup. With promise of free beer for life, Kofi was accepting his man of the match award when…….beep beep beep, ‘Kofi are you getting up its Cup final day’.

This was it, the biggest game of 2010, forget the 2010 Man Utd vs Aston Villa League Cup final, forget the probable 2010 Spain vs Brazil World Cup final, and even forget Spurs dramatic injury time win vs Chelsea in the 2010 FA cup final (here’s to hoping), the game everyone wanted to see was the Hertford and district Division 2 cup final between 1 time winner County and White Lion.

Earoles had been telling everyone they were playing for their places in the 2 previous games but obviously we couldn’t start without any players so Matt just rolled the dice and selected the following:

County Hall 2009/2010 stats:

GK: Snails: Pld 18, goals conceded 43, at fault for goals 44 (1 was disallowed) goals scored 1 (that’s 1 more than me), hair grey.
RB: Neil Pld 18, goals 0 (thanks Barry), Kebabs eaten at half time 18.
LB: Darren White: Pld 18, goals 4, sandwiches eaten after each game 7
CB: Matt: Pld 16, goals 2 (2 pens to add to his 175), gifts to other teams 12
CB: Manno: Pld 19, goals 3, passes completed to team mates 0.
LM: Ben: Pld 15 (always away on a jolly up), goals 3, hair Ginger (say no more)
RM: Steve Martin: Pld 19, Goals 7 (expected more), headed career goals 1
CM: Darren Willson: Pld 17, goals 2, Sniper attacks 15 (his Dad was away for 2 weeks), mom votes 17 (all from Lee)
CM: Lee Willson: Pld 18, goals 5, Sleeves rolled up 2, girlie bracelets, 1, mom votes 17 (all from Darren)
CM: Alan: Pld 19, Goals 0 (that’s poor from a midfielder), Age 75, bad boots 1, hair very grey, and injuries during each game 2.
CF: Barry White: Pld 18, Goals 18 (that’s how it’s done Steve), Pens scuffed 6, pens missed 2.

Subs:

Stevie J: Pld 13, goals 1, misses 1755, Run forest Runs per game 4, missed calls per game 27.
Kofi: Pld 11, goals 0 (never in doubt), waist size 42, passes complete 0, tackles 0, headers 0.
Butler, Pld 4, goals 1 (can’t believe he scored and only played 4 times, gutted), tear ups 5.
Tony: Pld 9, goals 0 (that’s more like it), yellow cards 64 (I thought it was higher).
Brooksey: Pld 11, goals 2 (but 1 of them cost him a cheekbone), weight heavy, hair none.

White Lion must have been quaking in their boots.

Anyway finally onto the game, it was going to be a tough game against a young team who will probably go on and win the title but we have already beaten them once this year and miracles can happen (as County proved by getting to the final). With the 2 previous games forgotten and County Hall in buoyant mood to be back at the Letchworth ground which has been so lucky for them over the last 5 years, (Pld 2, lost 2) lets hope it doesn’t goto pens eh Darren.

WL started very brightly and were eager to stamp their authority on the game, it was clear they were going to push forward in numbers from the midfield utilising their pace (should be no problem for Alan and Willson). They attacked down the wings and Neil was letting the number 9 go past too easily and he had already done a air shot in the first 5 mins (I also think it was because Neil had one eye on the canteen that was only 15 yards away and fancied a cheese burger, Darren was already thinking of what he was going to order for the 2nd half, think it was the foot long).

After 15 mins WL almost took the lead, the number 9 cut inside and unleashed a great right foot drive from 25 yards, with Snails well beaten the ball was heading for the top corner but bounced back off the post and was cleared.

WL continued to attack but was reduced to long range efforts and half chances, Snails made some great saves in which he normally would have spilt the ball.

County’s only real chance of the half came just before half time, after a great move down the left, Ben put a great ball into the box, the keeper was beaten and Barry was at the back post and ready to fling himself for a diving header but the defender just got their first and hooked the ball away from a certain goal, half time 0-0.

Matt was pleased at half time with the commitment and knew if we continued to frustrate WL our chance would come, with the subs looking eager to get on no changes were made at half time.

Straight from the kick off County almost scored, from a corner the ball was cleared and played back out to Darren Willson who swung a great ball into the box, the ball was met by Ben from 3 yards who somehow headed over when it was easier to score.

Then within 5 mins, Darren White sent over a cross/shot with his right foot which was going into the far top corner, as Steve Martin and the defender both challenged, the defender headed it clear from underneath the cross bar.

This then spurred on WL and they pushed forward in packs at every attack, the defence and midfield worked well as a team and prevented any real chances, we rode our luck a few times and was helped by some poor WL shooting.

Then in the 80th minute the WL skipper went on another one of his runs, our midfield couldn’t keep up with him, Manno tried to tackle him but he squeezed off a weak shot which should have been no problem for Snails. Unfortunately Snails got it all wrong and dived the wrong way, the ball hit his body and spun goal wards and into the empty net, this was a soft goal to concede and a shame as Snails was having a great game up until then, 0-1.

County then changed formation and pushed Steve Martin up front, we started to push forward more and in the 88th minute, Barry went on one of his mazey runs, went past one player and got taken down in the box for a penalty, could County Hall pull of a miracle.

Earoles stepped up to take the penalty ignoring the plea’s of Darren White who wanted to redeem himself for missing in the last cup final, ignoring Darren Willson’s plea’s who also fancied it, he even ignored Stevie J’s and Kofi’s plea’s to let them on the pitch.

Earoles placed the ball down and as he stepped up to add to his 175 previous penalty goals from 176 attempts he ballooned the ball high and wide, as he fell to his knee’s you could hear the cheers from the White Lion supporters but more loudly you could hear the cheering from Clarkey who undoubtedly would remind Earoles of that miss later.

With only 2 mins left, there wasn’t enough time to mount an attack or enough time to get the subs on, the ref blew the whistle and it was over, County Hall had maintained their 100% loss at Letchworth and the cup was lost.

We can hold our heads high as we all battled well but the chances didn’t fall our way tonight, we lost to a team who’s oldest player was 3 years younger than our youngest, we also lost to a team who had already lost in one of the earlier rounds.

As you can imagine Clarkey consoled Earoles in the bar after the game with his chant of ‘You lost County Hall the cup’, you could tell deep down Clarkey was gutted for his best mate, you had to look deep, very deep. Especially when he later mentioned in the R&C that it was the happiest week of his life, Spurs had got through to the FA cup semi final, West Ham at had lost 0-3 to Wolves and Earoles then missed a penalty, as I said very deep down.

We have got to pick ourselves up for the next league game against Bengeo Trinity if we want to make Europe.

Just incase the pressure was too much to bear on the night and you couldn’t watch the penalty, here is a replay (cheers Ev)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjB6aJiN0pU