Tuesday 7th January 2025
Walsall Senior Cup Quarter Finals
Brocton 0 Chasetown 1
Brocton welcomed Step 4 side Chasetown to Silkmore Lane for this Walsall Senior Cup Quarter-Final. Chasetown find themselves in the hunt for the playoffs but came into this match off the back of two defeats in their first two matches of the new year. Brocton find themselves still second in the Midland Premier Division table, after a hard-fought victory at Studley last time out.
Brocton made two changes from the side that won at The Beehive on Saturday, with new signing Kyle Langston replacing the absent Tony Allsopp, and Cooper Marsh replacing Tom Vaughan at the back.
It was a fantastic start for Brocton when a long ball over the top found Will Whieldon whose shot rolled across the surface and bounced off the far post, to the surprise of Matt Sargeant, the Chasetown keeper, who must have thought it was rolling wide. There was a superb pace to the game, with both sides giving a strong showing – Brocton found some joy throughout with a high press, winning their battles and creating good opportunities, but the story of the match would be the struggle putting those chances away. Connor Haddaway played in Reg Smith, but his effort was never going to trouble the goalkeeper. Smith found himself with a golden opportunity in the thirtieth minute when a deflection off the Chasetown defender found him one on one with all the time in the world, but he dragged it wide and kept the game goalless. It wasn’t all one-way traffic though, as Chasetown found joy with the long ball. A ball out wide and a lovely piece of play found Joey Buckley who rounded Kyle Langston but went down in the area. He was deemed to have fallen too easily with a free kick awarded to Brocton and a yellow card shown to the Chasetown player. Sargeant seemed to struggle with his distribution, allowing good opportunities for Brocton to break forward from deep. Charlie King forced a save after Brocton flew forward with Smith and Whieldon’s efforts blocked, King took it upon himself to shoot from outside the box, producing a good save from Sargeant. Chasetown continued to threaten all the way up to half-time ending the half the stronger of the two sides, but it was Brocton who went into the break feeling they should be at least one up.
HT: Brocton 0 Chasetown 0
Brocton came out quick and energetic, producing plenty of chances but few that could really trouble the impenetrable Chasetown defence. Somehow Brocton had a flurry of chances kept out by Sargeant and his defence, with one being cleared off the line. Charlie King picked the ball up on the edge of his own box on the sixty minute mark, dribbling through the sea of blue and to the opposite box and subsequently winning a corner, but it was cleared comfortably. The second half, unlike the first saw few clear-cut chances, but Brocton dominated possession, driving forward but poor execution in front of goal looked like it would come back to haunt them. Conditions continued to worsen, as fine snow began to fall, and an opportunity would fall to Alfie Taylor after substitute Kai Cunningham slotted him through, penetrating the backline of the home side and slotting it past Langston to put the Scholars into the Semi Finals in the eighty-ninth minute. Heartbreak for Brocton, who really had deserved more from this match, after a resilient performance against their strong opponents, but missed chances came back to bite them.
FT: Brocton 0 Chasetown 1; Attendance 182
Brocton: Kyle Langston, Josh Simcox, Dan Evans (Toby Smith 90+2), Cooper Marsh, Kenny Devoir (Jude King 90’), Charlie King, Will Whieldon, Lucas Green-Birch (Cam Osborne 60’), Reg Smith, Connor Haddaway, Christian Blanchette (Morgan Payne 86’) – Unused Subs: Ben Hackett
Chasetown: Matt Sargeant, Oli Hayward, Jordan Evans, Matt Hughes, Danny O’Callaghan, Tom Thorley, Joey Buckley, Jack Langston (Jay Clement 65’), Joseph Thompson (Luke Yates 57’), Alfie Taylor, George Cater (Kai Cunningham 62’) – Unused Subs: Kris Taylor, Curtis Pond
Yellow Cards: Buckley (Chasetown); Marsh, Simcox (Brocton)
Match report by Zak Whitton
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