Flags Qtr Final: Welwyn 2’s 13 – 1 Milton Keynes

MK’s cup run came to a windy end at the hands of Welwyn 2’s. For whatever reasons, MK were just not at the races today. Yes, it was blowing a gale but was the same for both teams so the weather can’t be an excuse. MK just made too many unforced errors. In the first half the visitors could barely make 4 or 5 passes before turning it over. You can’t give any team free possession and Welwyn started to notch up their goal tally.

Given Welwyn had ~80% of the possession, MK’s defence did hold firm during settled play. The problem was back to turnovers. The worst was a clearance from the backline which everyone saw was going to be a pass to Brett (our stand-in goalie). A Welwyn attacker just walked in front of Brett, intercepted the ball, ran around to the open goal to score.

A large group of American Football players tried to steal the field before half-time. There was some debate over who had officially booked the field. The game was paused at half-time and we started to move the lax goals across to the next pitch, then back again as the gridiron group were just practising and did not actually need the pitch with the football posts at either end.

The second half saw an improved performance even though the win was realistically now out of reach. MK hit the goal pipes at least three times. A couple of plays rehearsed at training resulted in decent shooting chances. MK finally scored in the 4th quarter. Corey charged across halfway to set-up a fast break. The defence reacted leaving Laurence open in attack. At last the final pass was on the money and Laurence slotted his shot into the right corner of the goal. Twelve more of them would have been wonderful late in the game but at least it avoided the shutout and Laurence could go home happy with his goal.

We wish Welwyn 2’s all the best in their semi-final against Canterbury. Tough one to call. Should be a close game.

MK Squad
G: Brett
D: Aaron, BenN and Jonny
M: BenA, Corey, Matt and Paul
A: Rob, Dan and Laurence

Game Stats
13:1 (4:0, 8:0, 11:0, 13:1)
MK Man-to-the-Match: TBC
MK D-of-the-Day: TBC

MK Scorers
#12 Laurence Nichols Cook