Dynamo:-
1. Ben Newton
2. Ryan McLaughlin
3. Jack Stanley
4. Adam Dolman
5. Vinny Hallifield (c)
6. Matt Brian
7. Tom Colclough
8. Tom Donnachie
9. Richard Fox
10. Jack Goodband
11. Ben Stanley

Subs:-
12. Jak Ward (on for McLaughlin, '70)
14. Michael Tristram (on for Dolman, '64)
15. Farrall Scott (on for Donnachie, '47)

Scorers:-
O.G. (15)
Brian (60)
Goodband (75)

Assists:-
B.Stanley (15, 60)
Colclough (75)

Venue: Melbourne Recreation Ground
Referee: Dave Gray

After last week’s convincing win in the Derbyshire Cup, Dynamo Reserves were looking for a repeat performance in the Quarter Finals of the Junior Cup. Pastures, a league above Dynamo, looked to have put out a strong team including the likes of former Dynamo Sam Taylor. Notable absentees from the Dynamo squad were as follows:

Ben Dale, who was out with a paper cut, but expected to be back before the end of the month.

Shaun Hayes, a young civil servant struggling to find the right balance between football and love. Specialist in this field, Adam Dolman, is helping him through this difficult time.

Alex Slater, who is out for the foreseeable future after last week’s post-match medical report showed signs he was “past it” and that he should “jump before he’s pushed”.

Ryan Monk, an aggravating hamstring injury saw the young centre forward watch his teams’ artistic works from the sideline in the hope it will aid his recovery.

Notable inclusions were: Richard Fox. Present in body but absent in spirit after pressure from last week’s match report left the no.9 left back on the verge of a breakdown. After receiving abusive messages via social network site ‘Twitter’, Fox has said he “feels let down by the club and its management” and is working with Cyber Bullying charity ‘Cybersmile’ to help those in a similar situation.

The strange choice of team numbers (including a no.9 left back and a no.6 striker) was either cunning tactics from the Dynamo Reserves Management duo of Greg Salisbury and Eddie Dale, or intimidation from players with shirt number egos.

Turning to the game, Pastures started the game with the advantage of a slight gust and favoured gradient, but with a pitch that was boggy in parts it was proving difficult to play ‘on the deck’ football.

In the 5th minute, Pastures danger man Kev Morrow struck for goal from a narrow angle only to be denied by a reflex save from Dynamo goalkeeper, Newton. An ideal time for the goalkeeper’s pre-match Red Bull to kick in.
Ten minutes passed before good work by Ben Stanley, saw him fizz a low cross in from the left only for former Dynamo Sam Taylor to head into his own net from six yards out. Dynamo Manager Salisbury looking rather smug after an altercation between the player and himself saw Taylor leave the club in somewhat of a storm.

The next 30 minutes saw Dynamo see a majority of the possession with a handful of chances squandered by both teams to leave the score 1-0 at half-time.

Dynamo restarted play with a Donnachie run straight from kick off but after skipping past half the team and winning a corner for Dynamo it seemed his individual battle was over. Despite his agile frame, a loss of balance saw the midfielder roll his ankle and soon after he was replaced by late arrival Farrall Scott, who has bought a new watch with his win bonus.

On 60 minutes, a speedy clearance from a Pastures attack allowed Ben Stanley to receive the ball on the left wing. A neatly threaded pass through to Brian saw the composed mind-of-an-infant body-of-a-veteran beat his marker not once but twice, to smash the ball home and make it 2-0. On 61 minutes Dynamo had a chance to wipe the smiles from their faces. A quick piece of football involving just three passes left Newton exposed to the Pastures centre forward, who finished well to send Newton the wrong way. 2-1 the score. Salisbury used this window to replacing a hard working Dolman for Tristram and faultless right back McLaughlin with Ward in an attempt to replenish his defence.

On 72 minutes, after a heated game where many could argue more cards should have already been brandished, an incident between Colclough and the Pastures left winger saw the Pastures player see yellow and then red (after the referee’s reversible card come magic trick was performed). Being the smarter of the two, Colclough was able to keep his place on the pitch, and moments later provided an assist for Goodband to half-volley home from 8 yards out. A sense of de-ja-vu was apparent with this combination of scorer and assister!

Pastures battled well in the closing 20 minutes but it would take more than that to get through a Dynamo defence that worked hard to ensure the complacency that led to Pastures first and only goal didn’t reoccur.

Another Cup victory for Dynamo Reserves, which will see them play in their second semi-final of what is the teams’ most successful season under Greg Salisbury. On behalf of the club, I would like to congratulate Greg Salisbury on signing on the dotted line for his new house, which I’m sure he will be hesitant to call a home until he has a winner’s trophy sitting on the mantelpiece.