Thanks to our roving reporter Dr Bill for these dot points…

Elizabeth Vale were mostly good dudes. There were lots of beards and they had great support on the sidelines cheering them on.

Ref started the game saying “This is the modern football, I let play go on’ and was indeed true to his word. He was very even handed and generally pretty good quality.

We dominated the first half, kept the ball on the deck & passed around really well. Controlled midfield and moved the ball out to wingers Mike & Lu excellently, generally gave them a headache. For their part Vale mostly pumped the ball long, bypassing midfield.

Our first goal was a free kick from Dools well outside the box, he floated the ball straight in over the keeper’s head

They equalised… can’t remember exactly how but it happened but it was their short forward with long hair – he kind of looked like he should be playing guitar in an Oz rock cover band.

We took the lead again, Mikey picked up the ball in midfield and basically dribbled a bunch of defenders, got into the box and slotted it in from a tight angle. So I wouldn’t give an assist to anyone for either goal.

HALF TIME and we talked about how we needed to win this game and keep playing the way we are….

Vale came out pumped up and stepped up their game, started passing the ball a lot better through midfield and getting more physical as well. We kind of dropped off a bit…. lost focus and gaps started appearing everywhere.

Their 2nd goal was a header off a corner… we just got outmuscled and got punished.

They got a third goal on a counter attack, beardy guy latched on to a ball on the halfway line and ran at goal, got past the last defender (me) and beat the keeper.

Towards the end of the game we had a few more good attacks & shots on goal but it wasn’t to be.

CUP DREAM OVER.

'Hula Dooley' free kick vs Elizabeth Vale

It would appear that Dooley did indeed do the Hula, before the ball even hit the net…

Man of Match: Cup Round Edition. The road to Wembley has been cruelly cut short but we can still hold our heads high…
3 points – Sam Warmerdam
2 points – Yi Lu
1 point – Michael Jones
Honourable mention – Robert Farquharson

Artwork courtesy of William Van Gogh and animation by Flynn Disney.