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Elburton Villa Juniors Win U14 Boys Cup

Elburton beat Central to win the Scott Richards Devon Under 14 Boys Cup Final

Scott Richards Solicitors  Devon Under 14 Boys Cup Final

Central Youth City  0 – 4   Elburton Villa Juniors

Played at Coach Road, Newton Abbot 27/06/2021

As you would expect both teams gave it their best shot in this exciting cup final, played in the pouring rain on the 3G surface at Devon FA headquarters but, after an even first half ended scoreless, Elburton took a more direct approach to run out comfortable winners.

Elburton kicked off but it was Central who took the early initiative, passing their way through the midfield but overhitting the final pass. However, in the 5th minute, they missed a good chance to go ahead. Having won the first corner of the match Arnau Amado, on his own in the middle of goal, volleyed the inswinging kick over from just outside the six yard box.

Elburton were having to do a lot of defending as Central continued to put them under pressure but without creating any clear cut chances from open play. Both keepers were mostly untroubled apart from the occasional long range effort and we reached half time with the scores still level at nil – nil.

The second half started in much the same way as the first with Central trying to play through the Elburton midfield. However, Elburton had started to play in a more direct fashion which Central struggle to cope with.

In the 42nd minute Kye Brannan headed home from a corner to give Elburton the lead but Central, undaunted, continued to press high onto the Elburton defence. That high press was probably their undoing as in the 55th minute, Charlie Todd, first to a long clearance out of the Elburton defence, managed to lob his own goalkeeper, Milo Crossfield, from 25 yards out.

That was followed by a most unusual event in 57th minute as the referee pulled a hamstring and had to be replaced by the 4th official. In the 62nd minute Ewan Jakes for Elburton was put clear, thanks to a good advantage from the substitute referee, but was well closed down by Crossfield who managed to get the ball away from danger for a throw in.

Three minutes later Elburton, whose confidence had grown in the second half, went three up as Riley Crawford latch onto a pass out of defence to race clear, go round Crossfield and roll the ball into the empty net.

Three nil now and no way back for Central as in the 69th minute Jakes pounced on a poor clearance to beat Crossfield to make the final score four nil to Elburton, which was somewhat surprising given the amount of possession Central had in the game.

Star Player – Riley Crawford (Elburton Villa)

Dennis Smith

Devon FA