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The Road To Histon
After a pulsating season in which City Life FC reached their highest ever league position, 3 rd, only four points behind the champions, the Cup presented the team with a real chance of their first ever silverware.
Over the season the team has grown in skill, finesse, aptitude and in some cases passion for tea and a mars bar down the Haymakers. With third place already in the bag we knew we were big contenders coming into the Cup and confidence was high. Due to the number of teams entered in the Cup not being divisible by 16, 8, 4, 2 and 1 only four teams were given a straight bye into the Quarter-finals. City Life were not included in these four teams, however, league champions C3 were not without their slice of luck and were given a first round bye and a cosy encounter with Histon FC OAPs. City Life themselves had to play some football if they were to get through to the quarter-final and were handed a fixture against Bluntisham.
Throughout the season Blunty were not a major force to be reckoned with. Two thrashings of 6-0 and 8-0 gave City Life the double over them in the league and so were far an away the favourites coming into the game. Although Blunty put up a good fight and City Life showed some first round nerves it was City Life who proved the stronger and came away with a 3 - 1 win to prog ress to the next round.
C3s quarter-final was abandoned due to opposition geriatric problems allowing the C3 squad to relax in their tour hotel in Dubai knowing they didn't need to be back in Cambridge for another two weeks. The quarter-final was an exciting clash against Saints. After a shakey start to the season during which City Life cained them 6-2, Saints managed to ship in a team of London City boffs to strengthen their squad and had a strong finish to end the season in 4th. City Life were first (and last) to grace the pitch with their presence and put in an intense warm up with ....... cones! hmmmm.....moving on....The Saints team took a little longer getting out of the dressing room as they didn't want to ruin their pin striped suits and deer stalker outfits. The game was fast and furious as expected and chances were frequent at both ends. It was the dynamic running of Luke Cathie finished off with a direct header that put City Life ahead within the first 15 mins. However, for the rest of the half it was Saints who dominated and City Life were consistently on the back foot. It was a welcome sound when the whistle blew for half-time and City Life were given a breather. The second half was more even but City Life were producing the better chances and really put the pressure on when Colm scored a second. Saints were forced to change their formation and pushed more people up front which unfortunately for them allowed our pacey strike force to make mincemeat of their depleted defence. Saints showed no more initiative up front and City Life capitalised on the changes to pick up two more goals (Colm, Unknown) to win the game 4-0 and book a place in the Semi-Final. Man of the match award must to go to Joe 'patter cake' Laycock, a late, inexperienced and unqualified goal keeping replacement who unquestionably kept us in the tie by patting the ball to safety on numerous occasions.
The semi-final round at last gave C3 a chance to get out of bed and put their boots on
to have a quick knockaround with Romsey Terriers. The 3-1 result in C3s favour meant an encounter against the league champions awaited the winners of the other semi between City Life and The Rock.
Undoubtebly a major factor in the success of City Life FC this season has been the ever increasing crowd of fans following the teams antics. Led by the glaswegian glory of John Williams (who I've heard has a slight soft spot for Chelsea FC) and the footballing fanatic, Suzy Stride (who I've heard has a soft spot for thimbles), the support throughout the season has been fantastic. Even with an away match hidden in a small village called Fowlmere the supporters did not give up. With the travelling fans outnumbering the home fans 2-1 we knew a pitchside brawl would end in City Life's favour.
 City Life put out a full strength side except for the injured Ian McLaughlin. His broken metatarsals are another iss ue Sven had forgotten to conceive a backup plan for. But hey why not take another 12 year old who's only just figured out how to tie his shoelaces. Another change of keeper saw James 'I can kick a ball from here to Dublin' take his position infront of the posts. City Life started well and were dominating play for the first 30mins. With all the pressure on Rock it wasn't surprising that a chance fell to Colm just inside the box who hit it well leaving the sprawling keeper no chance. City Life 1 - 0 The Rock. City Life kept the pressure on but were unable to extend their lead and great defending from the solid back four of Rich, Sam, Mike and Phil was frequently needed as Rock looked for opportunities on the counter attack. It was on one of these counter attacks that the worst happened. A quick ball over the top allowed a Rock striker to run behind the defence and knock the ball over the James as he came sprinting out. It was against the run of play and with only a few minutes left to half-time City Life du g deep to hang on without further damage. Shadows of the 1-1 draw against Rock earlier in the season that ended City Life's Title hopes were drawing in. There was stunned silence during the half-time break
and City Life knew they had to pick up their game if they were to reach the final.
The second half kicked off and immediately City Life piled on the pressure. As at the beginning of the first half City Life were much the better side and some great link up play from John and Loz down the right allowed John to come in and strike with his left foot passed the keeper. The Rock 1 - 2 City Life. Almost immediately after the restart Dave found himself sprinting onto a through ball only to be bundled over by a Rock fullback just after he'd entered the box. The Ref had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and Captain M J Faz promptly stepped up to the plate and calmly slotted the ball into the back of the net. The Rock 1 - 3 City Life. The next 20mins or so were more even and The Rock had the occasional chance to grab one back but fortun ately the defence remained resolute and the commanding presence of James in goal kept the ball from crossing the goal line. Chances for City Life kept coming and a fantastic run by Loz could have brought a fourth but for the keeper to palm his shot out to Dave who knocked the rebound home only to be signalled a highly dubious offside by the linesman. Another graceful run from Loz did bring an inevitable fourth as he rounded the defence and side footed an Henryesque shot low and past the keeper. The Rock 1 - 4 City Life. I can't q uite remember if this is the correct timing but I feel this event needs a mention for the sake of future nostalgia. Mark was making a hurtling run down the left wing when out of the blue a defender came crashing in nowhere near the ball with legs and arms flailing all over the place. Mark could do nothing but leap into the air with arms and legs out spread in protest. Fortunately Mark is a former gymnast and knows how to fall over gracefully without causing injury and the Ref gave the expected City Life free kick. The Rock were playing for pride now but City Life did not let up. Some poor control by the right back allowed Dave to take the ball to the byline and pull it back for Colm, two defenders and the keeper to pile on top of. A short scramble ensued before the ball bobbled out to Dave who cracked it in low and bottom left from all of half a yard. The Rock 1 - 5 City Life. It was the final score and City Life had reached the Cup Final for only the second time in their history. A fantastic achievement in a cup run that produced 12 goals for and only 2 against. The floodlit stadium at Histon FC <<with box goals>> will be City Life's last appearance in the Cambridgshire Churches League as Saturday league football is awaiting them next year. Come and support them taking on major rivals and league champions C3 who in case you hadn't heard only had to win one match to reach the final.
SUNDAY MAY 14TH
7:30PM KICK-OFF
HISTON FOOTBALL CLUB
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Back row: Loz, Mike, Sam, Colm, Adam, Phil, Joe
Front row: Dave, Rich, Dick, Ian, Luke, Mark |
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Dave Halse, 08/05/2006 |
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| | | Bex White | 12/05/2006 07:37 | Wow, I actually read that whole thing. Good sports journalism Dave, and go City Life!
| | | | Joe Laycock | 12/05/2006 09:55 | ... while I agree that it is a good article, I must object to Dave's depiction of me only 'patting' the ball away. This is not accurate; sometimes I missed it completely. Also sometimes I batted it (which is very different from 'patting'), sometimes I punched it and once or twice I actually caught it!
The clean sheet was testamtent to the large scale confusion I managed to create in the opposition, who had no idea what technique I was going to use at any one time, and therefore could not predict where the ball was likely to end up. Tricksy.
| | | | Caroline Malone | 12/05/2006 10:19 | wow, thank goodness you set the record straight on that one... what would we all have thought?!
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