Phoenix deflower Virgin in MA Cup Belter

Sunday saw Phoenix pull off a memorable victory over high flying premier outfit Virgin in the MA Cup to set up a plum tie with Clissold Thissle in the Quarter Finals. Virgin had some very good players (including a semi-pro ringer) and bags of pace, especially on the wings, and they looked dangerous from the outset. Despite Virgin having much of the possession early on, Phoenix looked resolute & good shape defensively limited Virgin to speculative long shots. Gower debutant Jamie Davies, stepping in at the last minute for the injured Aaron Stone, was sweeping up intelligently in front of the back 4 and allowing Jake to roam. Indeed, Phoenix looked dangerous on the break & this culminated in an excellent move – Jake spreading the ball wide to Bolu in the left, who skinned his marker classily and crossed to the back post, the keeper missed it & Adam Lucas stole in beautifully to slot home. 1-0 Phoenix… superb! The game remained tight, with Phoenix frustrating Virgin – the back 4, marshaled by the Imperious Treen machine, keeping their shape well & the midfield battling hard all over the park. With Jon Hanna & Fleshie combining effectively up front, Phoenix looked increasingly dangerous as the 1st half wore on and a good move down the right saw a deep Lucas cross to the back post met by the head of Hanna – a brilliant goal & 2-0 Phoenix. So going in at ½ time with a two goal lead Phoenix knew it was a job only half done & they had it all to do 2nd half.

Virgin came out fighting & pushed an extra man into midfield, overloading the flanks and beginning to dominate in midfield. The pressure told when their tall, quick striker picked the ball up deep & drove forward. He was not closed down quickly enough, hitting a stinging shot which Mike Kelly could not keep out – 2-1. But Phoenix weren’t out of the game & didn’t let their heads drop. Virgin looked the more dangerous team but the introduction of Ricky for Fleshie on 60mins bolstered the Gower midfield & helped them settle. And Ricky’s persistence led to a breakthrough as he pressured the Virgin full back into giving possession away deep in their half & nudged the ball goalwards… the Virgin keeper failed to hold it & Jon Hanna powered in to stab home his 2nd – 3-1 Gower! Phoenix stayed focused – Ricky, Jake & Jamie battled hard with Bolu & Adam Lucas offering the outlet on the break & Jon Hanna’s physical presence upfront paying dividends. The back 4 & the impressive Mike Kelly stayed solid in the face of sustained Virgin pressure but with about 6 mins to go a cross to the near post was palmed successfully away by Mike Kelly only for the onrushing striker to claw the ball in with his hand… but the Ref gave the goal and the lead was now only 3-2. The last 5 mins were tense, with Virgin searching for that equalizer but all credit to the Phoenix who showed great character to keep their shape & concentration all across the park to see out the remaining minutes & seal an excellent victory. Virgin’s captain said at the end that we deserved it & he was damn right. This was a top team performance with every player combining hard work with good concentration.

Hard to pick a man of the match as this was very much a team performance but Jon Hanna gets the accolade – he gave us a physical presence upfront throughout & his hard working performance was capped by an excellent 2 goal haul. Well done again to the entire team. Big shout out to Jamie, Jake & Ricky in the middle who were absolutely tireless, to Adam Lucas & Bolu on the flanks who were a constant threat and of course to Mike Kelly who was class in goal (true beyond the call of duty stuff). Well done also to Luke too on return from injury, putting in a big 90 mins.

This game really shows what we can do when we work hard and concentrate & there were a lot of positives to come out of it. However, we need to achieve this level of intensity week in week out & not just against the better teams. We also need improve our simple passing & learn to dominate possession better as this was the one thing we failed to do on Sunday & is something we really need to work on. That said, top performance – well done all!

Phoenix: Mike Kelly – Moore, Treen, Hill, Layton – Bolu, Emms, Jamie D, Lucas – Fleshie (sub Ricky 60min), Hanna