DAVID WOLFF DIVISION TWO CUP QUARTER-FINAL
PARIS SAINT-JEWMAIN 1 NORTH WEST LONDON BEARS 1
(PSJ won 4-2 on penalties)
The match finished 1-1 on a day when Storm Ciara stole the headlines, with a long-range special from PSJ's Dylan Levi cancelled out by an equaliser from NWLB's Sam Morris.
And it was PSJ who held their nerve to progress 4-2 on spot-kicks, with Ollie Reback saving NWLB's first attempt from Alex Rose. Top-scorer Josh Cohen, teenager Zac Summerfield, Levi and Sam Lavender all converted to send PSJ through.
Jubilant PSJ boss Elio Elia told JC Sport: "I’m immensely proud of the boys’ effort today in what was a difficult game, and am pleased we got a bit of good fortune after a difficult few results last month, the team really deserve it."
James Harpin told JC Sport the high winds proved a leveller: "Today was anyone's game down to the conditions," he told JC Sport. "I have never played in worse conditions than that in all my life but we are not going to use that as an excuse.
"The first half was difficult as we were playing against the wind and we knew if we kept the score down we would have enough to get past them in the second half. However, we did not keep the ball well enough in the second half and failed to create many chances at all."
Harpin went on to say: "PSJ deserved the win over the 90 minutes but we held on and got it to penalties. They created far more chances and won battles all over the pitch.
"It was not much of a football game and maybe should have been postponed, but we played the game and should have done better over the 90 minutes."
He added: "It is even more of a lottery in a shootout and unfortunately I had a bit of a stinker, leaving us just short of a quarter-final place. I told the boys to back me and just do their job of scoring, but I missed my penalty and failed to save some fairly poor penalties. I will take the blame for today's defeat and the boys responded well, finding it extremely amusing that I missed my penalty so badly.
"We now now games left of the season in which we hope to get at least two wins, and we will go again next season with the ambition of promotion and a cup final."
PSJ PENALTIES
Josh Cohen - Scored
Zac Summerfield - Scored
Dylan Levi - Scored
Sam Lavender - Scored
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BEARS PENALTIES
Alex Rose - SAVED
Sam Morris - scored
Sam Martin - scored
Sam Bookman - scored
James Harpin - missed
