Photos: Ruth Gibson
| Team | Pld | Pts | GD |
| James 3rds | 5 | 12 | +3 |
| Goodricke 1sts | 5 | 11* | +8 |
| Derwent 2nds | 5 | 8 | +4 |
| Langwith 1sts | 5 | 5 | -2 |
| Vanbrugh 3rds | 5 | 3 | -7 |
| Alcuin 2nds | 5 | 1 | -6 |
*Goodricke 1sts deducted 2 points for fielding an ineligible player.
James 3rds won their final group stage game to defy expectations and finish first in Group 2, dubbed ‘the group of death’. It did, however, take a moment of magic from Tim Green to win the game after Vanbrugh 3rds took the lead.
Vanbrugh 3rds lined up with a makeshift side, missing several of their first-choice players. The mission of the cobbled-together squad: to upset the group leaders and overtake Langwith 1sts in the race for plate qualification.
The chances of that seemed bleak at first; Vanbrugh’s deep-lying midfield was successful in restricting James midfielders to speculative through-balls, but more seriously impaired their own ability to create chances. Whilst under pressure, Vanbrugh conceded a free-kick which was swung in by Andy Yates, and headed on target by Nathan McCusker, whose aerial dominance has been instrumental in James’ impressive run.
James threatened down the left with Jack Fisher, Andy Yates and Tim Green, but initially found themselves outnumbered as they came closer to breaching the Vanbrugh area. When they did find a way through, courtesy of an incisive Fisher through ball, and a run from Green which raised suspicions of offside, Green failed to work Vanbrugh goalkeeper Paul Taylor. Yates then picked out Fisher from a corner, and from the edge of the area, Fisher’s spectacular Gus Poyet-like volley flashed over the bar.
Vanbrugh were issued a serious warning minutes later, when defender George Barnard was forced into action to clear a Green header off the line. The ball only made its way out as far as Yates, who shot into the hands of Taylor from outside the area.
The underdogs, Vanbrugh, were lucky to go into half-time level, and even luckier to take the lead at the start of the second half with a freakish Isaac Parkinson goal. James goalkeeper Paul Charnock received a pass-back and, in attempting to clear the ball, hit Parkinson’s back, for an inadvertant goal.
Visibly agitated by the flukish nature of the goal, James pressed for an equaliser. It soon came, via a Yates corner, and the head of who else but Nathan ‘Hangeland’ McCusker; a centre-back whose scoring record in the competition is up there with some of the best strikers.
James still needed another goal to consolidate their position at the top of the group, and Tim Green scored one worthy of winning any game or group. After receiving the ball from Sam Clitheroe, Green went on a mid-air dribble; rendering two Vanbrugh defenders completely helpless, as Paul Gascoigne did Colin Hendry in Euro 96. When the opportunity presented itself, the James winger drilled the ball past Paul Taylor and inside the far post.
Vanbrugh had one decent opportunity to equalise, but it was squandered by Sam Taylor, who received the ball from Kimmy Tang-Wright on the left, got his positioning wrong and sent it back in the same direction. Sam Clitheroe came close to doubling James’ lead, but the score remained the same until the final whistle.
James 3rds’ superb run has seen them qualify ahead of the likes of Goodricke and Langwith 1sts and Derwent and Alcuin 2nds, amazing both their opposition and bystanders alike. As the final moments of the game were played out, one fan went as far as to remark: ‘Oh my God, literally’.
Vision MOTM: Tim Green – provided an attacking threat throughout the game and capped his performance with one of the goals of the tournament so far. Nathan McCusker also performed solidly in defence and got himself on the scoresheet.