| Gadeside Rangers progressed to the quarter finals of the WSFL Intermediate Cup with a single goal victory over division two side Rickmansworth Town. The management were given real problems with no fewer than 11 regular players missing throughout the squad meaning there were debuts in the first team for Kieran Marks, Mike Ashby, Steve Shaw and Michael Kayembe. Tom Oliver, nursing a cut finger moved into the defence and Tom Mitchell, suffering a groin strain only made the bench. It was testimony to those who stepped up that they all had very assured games and contributed to a very decent Gadeside win. |
| In all truth the single goal scoreline probably flattered the hosts, who were convincingly played off the park in the first half by a Gadeside team who seemed to have rediscovered the art of passing the football. Gadeside went ahead after six minutes when an Adam Hills pass found Daniel Brooks on the edge of the area. The midfield maetsro steadied himself before hitting a beautiful curling effort into the far corner of the net. Ricky Town pushed for a quick leveller and Tom Oliver made a superb sliding tackle to stop a home striker who looked set to pounce but Gadeside were soon on the attack again. Michael Kayembe twice had efforts blocked while a forward run by Ian Freeman saw the ball just scrambled away. The second goal did come on the half hour mark. Tom Shurville and Brooks combined well in midfield to free Freeman on the hand side and his pinpoint cross was superbly headed beyond the keeper by Chris Fitzpatrick for his first senior goal. |
| Hills had an effort ruled out for a push and Shurville tested the keeper from long range as Gadeside looked for a killer third before the break but they were unable to increase their lead. Nevertheless, it had been an impressive first half display. The hosts came out and had a good go in the second half as they put pressure on the Gadeside defence. They should have got a goal back on the hour when a left wing cross was headed wide by Foy with the goal gaping. It was not all one way traffic though as Gadeside still looked dangerous when going forward. Mike Ashby saw his driven effort deflected just wide and Hills should have scored but was off target from 30 yards with the keeper stranded. Ricky Town did pull a goal back on 72 minutes when a deep free kick was headed home by Williams. |
| From then on however, Gadeside got back into their rhythm and generally looked the more likely to score. Daniel Brooks' powerful effort was parried onto the crossbar by the keeper and sub Tom Mitchell miscontrolled in the area with just the keeper to beat. Hills thought he had finally scored his first goal since May 2008 after he fired past the home keeper, but the linesmans flag was raised for offside. Ricky Town pushed forward in search of an equalisers but Gadeside comfortably held on. |
| Jay Evans said after the game: "I thought the boys worked extremely hard today and should be proud of their performance. We showed some real quality in the first half especially and should have killed off the game, to be honest 2-1 was a bit flattering for them. But I am very happy that we have managed a win and hopefully we can push on from here." |
| Darren Hufford, Ian Freeman, Kieran Marks, Tom Oliver, Matt Evans, Daniel Brooks, Mike Ashby (Steve Shaw), Tom Shurville, Adam Hills, Michael Kayembe (Tom Mitchell), Chris Fitzpatrick |