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Wednesday 29th April 2009

 

Debden Sports 1

Harold Wood Athletic 2

 

Debden's only chance of silverware this season came in the form of the Romford Charity Cup and they faced a tough test in opposition Harold Wood Athletic.

 

Debden started the 1st half in a positive fashion but were unable to maintain it for long as Wood started to control the tempo of play with good possession and early balls to their front men. Despite their dominance the Debden rearguard held firm and restricted them to one shot the whole half but disaster struck midway in the half when a routine gather from Sports keeper Graham Smith was misjudged and ended up in the back of the net.

 

Debden came out after the break in a frenzy and battered Harold Wood for an impressive 20 minutes. This was rewarded when player/manager Leon Townley reacted first to a poor defensive clearance to send a first time half volley over the scrambling keeper from all of 45 yards. Debden were now the better team and looking to take the lead and but for the heroics of the opposition keeper would have been out of sight.

 

Fortune was clearly not with Sports as a despite their clear superiority they went behind again when a needless free kick was conceded deep in their half. The resulting ball was won by a Harold Wood header back across the goal which their striker got to first to nudge past keeper Smith. This was a tough goal to concede as Wood had been unable to create a single shot in normal play. Deflated by the goal and unable to raise energy levels to the pace set at the start of the half Debden were unable to get back into the game and the cup went to Harold Wood.