Penalty shoot out agony in Liphook

The boys played superbly in their QF tie against Liphook and drew 2-2 after extra time but were beaten on penalties 3-1.

The game was a tense and competitive affair with few chances in the first half although Newport hit the cross bar and looked the more threatening of the two teams. Newport deservedly opened the scoring with a spectacular strike from Reece M early in the second half. This was a scorching opener for the reds but a defensive mix up between the defenders and Richard, our goalie, allowed the ball to trickle agonisingly over the line to make it 1-1.

Reece M broke free up the left flank and scored a great goal almost immediately to restore our lead. However Reece, our captain and the clearly the most influential player on the field injured his knee tendons in a tackle and had to go to hospital. This upset the balance of the team and after this our chances were few. With very little time remaining it looked like we would hold on and win the tie but the greens equalised with a stunning long range shot in to the roof of the net.
Despite their best efforts in extra time no team could break the dead lock and the boys were left to finish the tie with a penalty shoot out.
All the MaD's and staff can firmly say that the boys were superb and a great credit to the school . They played as well as they could under the circumstances and gave everything. Had Reece not been so badly injured and had James been available then we might have been be looking forward to the semis.......... who knows? Get well soon Reece.