Thames Valley Premier League FA Cup Semi Final.
Another glorious day and another end of season double header, this time it was the first of two TVPL Cup semi finals to be played at Reading City’s Rivermoor ground, this one kicking off at 1pm.
Both playing in the TVPL Premier, Tadley Calleva Reserves had the better season finishing in fourth place winning 16 of their 28 games, while their opponents in this clash, Holyport Reserves, finished just outside of the relegation zone in thirteenth place and winning just 6 of their 28 matches. On paper Tadley held the edge but football isn’t played on paper as the old adage goes.
Entry was £5 and you also received a team sheet with each club’s squad numbers showing. I apologise now if any of the names are wrong, after the game the Tadley camp very kindly informed me their squad list was not up to date so thanks to them for forwarding me a team sheet with the actual numbers their team were wearing. Now watch me still get something wrong!
The pitch looked very dry and dusty and with the temperature already in the high 20s, the game kicked off just after 1pm. Tadley made a fast start to the game, pressing Holyport back in the early stages and coming close when a shot from Tiago Moreno fizzed just past the post with the help of a slight deflection.
Holyport then came close to opening the scoring in unusual circumstances. Max Noyce launched a free kick from inside his own half towards the Tadley penalty area, the ball bounced higher than everyone expected on the edge of the box and initially looked to be going over keeper Torren Kirrage, but he adjusted well and diving back managed to claw the ball away with a strong left hand.
Back came Tadley and a long ball down the middle was won by Lors Nicholas who held the ball up and played a nice one-two with Morena shooting low. Thomas Molder in the Holyport goal came out quickly and managed to get enough of a touch on the ball for it to go wide of the post.
The first drinks break took place after 24 minutes and soon after Holyport’s Ollie Unger made a great run down the left flank drifting past a couple of challenges before firing a great ball across the six-yard box but it was just out of reach of Tao Liverpool running in at the far post.
The final piece of action from a competitive first half came when Holyport failed to clear a free kick and the loose ball fell to Luke Danton only for his snapshot to rattle off the top of the bar and go over.
H-T: Tadley Calleva Reserves 0 Holyport Reserves 0
Holyport started the second half on the front foot, a lovely cross field pass from Connor Haire picked out the run of Harry Ward who danced into the area before shooting towards the near post but it was too close to Kirrage who parried the ball away.
Holyport thought they’d won a penalty when Tadley failed to clear a corner. Kirrage came out and appeared to push over Holyport’s Joseph Butler while trying to clear the ball, only for the shouts to be waved away with the referee signalling a free kick to Tadley. Maybe he saw a foul on one of the Tadley defenders before the incident that we didn’t? I don’t know what he saw and neither did anyone else including the linesman who gave us a shrug when asked!
With Holyport still fuming, Tadley made a quick break forward and the impressive Moreno showing great technique to hit a half volley low past Molder. 1-0
Tadley were now in the driving seat and thought they had doubled their lead shortly afterwards; Moreno made another intelligent run before playing the ball through to Danton whose strike went across Molder and into the bottom corner only for it to be disallowed for offside.
The referee was again the centre of attention soon after. A great run from Haire taking the ball past three players before going down in the box which brought more appeals for a penalty from Holyport, but again the official was unmoved.
Tadley went back on the attack and a nice Ben Bond pass inside the full back found Danton on the edge of the box. Keeper Molder was on the edge of the box and blocked the initial shot with the ball rebounding to Lors Nicholas, Molder continued to cover outside his area and closed the forward down so he passed to Jordan Holmes who tried to find the empty net from distance but his effort was blocked by a defender running back.
Another quick break from Tadley followed, Nicholas ran towards the box before being taken down in the D by Alfie Calver who had only just come on as a substitute. The official deemed he was the last man so brandished the red card. Moreno took the free kick and managed to get it up and over the wall with the ball sailing into the roof of the net. 2-0
Holyport had now fallen apart a little, three staying up front and nobody running back into midfield which opened up acres of space for Tadley to exploit. Nicholas again finding space soon after only to see his strike cannon off the post with Molder beaten.
On the very next attack Nicholas again found space and time, played the ball inside to Bond who confidently stroked his shot into the opposite corner. 3-0
Holyport continued to battle away with Amari Dumont having two half chances but both times his efforts went high and wide.
Substitute Kieron Biddle set up the next attack for Tadley with a run down the left, he squared the ball into Nicholas on the edge of the area and he curled it nicely just inside the far post. 4-0
There was still time for one more for Tadley with Biddle again being the provider, this time a cross which Moreno finished smartly to complete his hat-trick. 5-0
F-T: Tadley Calleva 5 Holyport 0
I doubt anyone in the crowd would’ve thought that would end up 5-0 after the goalless first half but Tadley always did look to be more likely to score throughout the game. Holyport threatened in spells but the Tadley keeper Torren Kirrage wasn’t called into action enough, whereas Tadley did have a cutting edge and in the end could have scoreline could have been more than five.
No doubt about the player of the match for me, Tiago Moreno, an all action performance, a constant danger to their opponents and a hat-trick to top it all off.
A decent game on a testing surface with five goals and one or two contentious refereeing decisions thrown in, which made for an entertaining game. Well done to both sets of players for producing that level of a match in very hot conditions and I wish the best of luck to Tadley Calleva in the final, which is on Friday 29th May again at the Rivermoor Stadium kicking off at 7.45pm, just in case you want to add one final game to your 25/26 season!
Now we had a two hour break to cope with before the second semi final…