Plympton Edge Marjon in Sunday Supplementary Cup
Stitch 3 Sixty Devon Sunday Supplementary Cup Final
Plymouth Marjon Sunday 2 v 3 Plympton Athletic Sunday
Played at Coach Road, Newton Abbot 02/04/2023
Marjon kicked off in what was expected to be a close fought contest and so it proved as Plympton went straight onto the attack from the start. In the 3rd minute Ben Heasman’s 25 yard shot was comfortably dealt with by the Marjon custodian Kieran Richards. A minute later, Richards raced to the edge of the box to challenge Jay Jones, who chipped the ball over him to Ceejay Pritchard who, faced with an empty net, put his strike into the side netting. However, despite spending most of the opening period in the Marjon half they inexplicably found themselves a goal down at the interval.
In the 17th minute Marjon won a corner with virtually their first attack, Mike Axworthy seeing his left foot strike deflected behind, Elliot Cunningham getting on the end of the set piece, heading home Axworthy’s in-swinging cross from close range. One nil to Marjon, very much against the run of play.
Despite having the greater share of possession Plympton were unable to fashion a clear cut chance, thanks to a resolute Marjon defence. Jay Jones had probably the best chance to equalise in the 29th minute, pouncing on a loose ball at edge of the box but driving his shot straight at Richards. The remainder of the half produced no further scoring, and the teams went into the half time break with just the one goal to show for their efforts.
Marjon starting the second half much the sharper went two up through Axworthy, who got on the end of a rolling ball at the edge of the and drove a crisp left foot shot into the corner of the net, giving Josh Walker in the Plympton goal no chance.
On the hour mark there was an unseemly fracas involving Jay Jones and Marjon’s Chris Kerr which resulted in a yellow card each. From then on Plympton took the game to Marjon, and the fresh legs of Harrison Jones and Finnley Nelson, on for Heasman and Scott Connors, changed the flow of the game. In the 63rd minute Callum Thomas pushed forward from midfield and drove a strong effort from the edge of the box just wide.
On 68 minutes Plympton got a goal back, a long clearance from Walker found Pritchard who nodded it on to Jay Jones and fired his shot from the angle of the 18 yard box across Richards into corner of the net. The next meaningful strike came from Pritchard in the 75th minute, wriggling free in the box and drawing a good save from Richards.
A minute later Plympton were level, James Baker getting on the end of a free kick from Harrison Jones and placing a looping header over Richards from 10 yards. Both teams were now fully committed but it seemed that Plympton were on top and looking for the winning goal, which came in the 2nd minute of added time, Jay Jones driving a free kick from 22 yards across Richards into the far corner to complete a tremendous come back.
Following the restart there was a coming together initially involving Prichard and Curtis Wood and the ensuing fracas involved several players and two red cards. There were two more opportunities, one for each team, before the referee brought proceedings to a close with the Cup deservedly going to Plympton Athletic.
Star Player - Jay Jones (Plympton Athletic)
Written by Dennis Smith
Devon County FA