After the glamour of an FA Vase semi-final last week, I decided to head to Westland Sports near Yeovil for another semi-final. This one was in the Dorset League Cup with Merley Cobham Sports the visitors. I had seen a couple of different kick off times advertised so I decided to play safe and head down a bit early. As I turned off the A303 and headed towards the ground I found myself in a queue of traffic heading to the Yeovil v Bristol Rovers match. The road ran to the side of the Westland pitch and I was concerned to see that there appeared to be a match in progress. After making it to the next roundabout and turning away from the flow of traffic, I navigated past the Premier Inn and into the ground.
I soon realised that there were two pitches at the complex and was pleased to see players from Merley warming up on the far side. It turned out that the game that was taking place on the other pitch was a match between Westland Sports Reserves and Martock United. I later found out that this was also a semi-final for a place in the Yeovil and District League's Charity Cup. I watched the remainder of the first half, including one of the Westland goals in their 2.1 win, as it turned out that the first team game had been moved back to a 3pm kickoff.
As this game reached half-time, I wandered around to the main pitch and waited for the teams to come out for the match I had intended to see. I hadn't appreciated how close Yeovil's Huish Park is to this ground and it was somewhat surreal to hear the chants and noise from a League fixture blowing across on the wind.
On form it appeared that Westland Sports would be the favourites for this match but I had been impressed with Merley Cobham when I saw them earlier in the season. This impression was not unfounded as the visitors dominated play for the first twenty minutes. Merley had a good opportunity ruled out for offside, the ball had already been struck at goal and was about to bounce off the post when the referee blew for the infringement. Two minutes later and the home keeper committed himself to win a ball heading towards the far left of the area and lost the race. The ball was played into the centre of the area but the shot from a Merley player went over the bar with only a defender on the line to beat. The pressure finally told in the 17th minute when a defender missed his clearance, allowing a Merley player to run onto the ball and place a shot low to the left of the keeper and in.
Westland Sports had a couple of chances after this and on both occasions the Merley keeper covered the shot but allowed the ball to bounce away before grabbing it and bringing it under control. In the 41st minute the ball was crossed into the area for a Westland player to head down. The keeper had the initial header covered but again allowed the ball to bounce out. This time there was a Westland player close enough to him to beat him to the ball and tuck it under him for the equaliser.
The second half started in dramatic fashion. In the 47th minute a Westland player was clearly pushed in the area and the referee gave a penalty without a moment's hesitation. The penalty kick was struck low to the right but the goalkeeper guessed correctly and as the ball wasn't hit too far from him, made an excellent save. In the 50th minute Westland's made amends from their next attack. The ball went for a corner and was played deep towards the back of the area. A Westland player jumped above the defence and placed a high header on target. The ball looped over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net to give Westland Sports a 2.1 lead.
The lead only lasted for two minutes. Merley won a corner. One of their players suddenly ran forward and drew two defenders out with him as they anticipated a short corner. With those players out of position the ball was hit into the area and in a near repeat of Westland's goal, one of the Merley players got his head in above the depleted defence and powered the ball in under the crossbar. Merley came close again from a header minutes later but on that occasion the ball was headed over the bar. Four minutes after equalising, Merley took the lead. A great through ball found a Merley player in space and he took the ball round the keeper before slipping it into the empty net. The same player went through again shortly afterwards but his shot rolled narrowly wide after beating the keeper.
The game settled down after that as Westland tried to get another equaliser. There was a huge roar in the distance in the 75th minute as one of the teams at Yeovil scored (it turned out to be the Bristol Rovers goal in a 1.0 win) but little to shout about here. Westland had a couple of shots wide while Merley were happy to counter-attack, using the wings to good effect. Westland had one late effort that almost paid off but the final shot was hit wide. The clock was against them and it was the visitors who celebrated a cup final appearance at the final whistle.
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