Wanderers
exited the Junior Cup at the first round stage, despite an encouraging performance against First Division William Twigg Reserves.
Lewis
Trusty once again deputised in goal, and Andy Corless pushed up into midfield as Dan van der Laan O’Donnell returned.
This
match was always going to be a battle, and the Blues were clearly up for the challenge.
Phil Soane in particular put in some strong early challenges to set the tone for the game.
The
first half saw little in the way of clear cut chances. Trusty had a luck escape
after failing to pick up a low cross, and Wanderers’ players watched on as the ball trickled wide of the goal.
At
the other end, it was only towards the end of the half that the Blues threatened the Twigg Reserves’ goal. First Anthony Prior picked the ball up and ran at the defence. As
the Twigg defender tackled Prior, the ball ricocheted off the Wanderers’ winger and was heading for the top left hand
corner until the ‘keeper made a great save to knock the ball around the post.
From
the resulting corner Prior picked out Darren Wakley who headed narrowly wide of the far post.
In
the second half the Blues carried on their impressive play. Ian Griffiths was
causing problems on the right hand side, aided by positive running from Tom Soane and Paul Martin. Twigg had to resort to several dubious offside calls in order to keep Soane at bay.
The
Wanderers’ defence seemed to be fairly comfortable in dealing with Twigg’s direct style as Chris Hillsdon, Chris
Orbell and van der Laan O’Donnell all won key headers. Andy Corless and
Wakley assisted them greatly by cutting out a lot of service through the middle of the pitch.
With
under thirty minutes remaining, Wanderers came closest to opening the scoring. Prior
picked the ball up and hit a shot from twenty five yards. The goalkeeper was
beaten but the ball struck the crossbar and bounced away to safety.
Twigg
Reserves struck a harsh blow with twenty minutes to play. A long throw from the
right was flicked on, and after bouncing around the Blues’ box, it was struck through a crowd and beyond Trusty.
Wokingham
kept going and from the kick off Martin exchanged passes with Prior and then forced the goalkeeper into another excellent
save as he powered a left-footed shot at goal.
Minutes
later Martin had another effort, this time striking from distance but finding the ‘keeper a formidable barrier once
again.
The
Blues introduced substitutes Jamie Ryall and Clint Falcus, and moved further forward as they searched for an equaliser.
Orbell
and Phil Soane both were called upon to make last ditch challenges, but with three minutes to go Twigg clinched victory. Their forward looked offside, but Trusty was left with no chance as he was beaten
from close range.
Despite
another defeat, Wanderers can take a lot of confidence from the performance. Man
of the match for the Blues had to be Phil Soane, who put in a committed display at left back.
