James 1sts put in an uninspiring but effective performance to defeat Halifax 3rds 2-1 and secure a place in the semi-finals of the College Cup.
As with their final group fixture against Vanbrugh 2nds, James were unable to produce the flair that they had shown in abundance in the tournament’s early stages. The Halifax back four kept leading scorer Tom Clarke comparatively quiet, and despite dominating possession, James struggled to create many clear cut chances.
However, first half goals from James Davies and Freddie Ferrao proved enough to see the black swans through, with Jake Mundy’s second half strike not enough to rouse ‘Fax into a comeback.
James started the game on top, with Clarke initially lively. The ex-Yeovil Town man beat two players down the left hand side before fizzing a dangerous cross across the area that was just too far in front of the onrushing James Davies.
The same player then forced an acrobatic save out of Shin Murata from a right-footed half-volley and later looped a header from outside the area just over the bar with the ‘Fax ‘keeper stranded following a commanding punch.
However Halifax’s defence was good, with holding midfielder Kieran Gennoy breaking up James’ play, stopping them from cutting his side apart on the floor.
Halifax were struggling to play any football of their own though – the defenders were often caught on the ball and they were unable to keep hold of possession long enough to mount any form of attack.
They looked intimidated by James’ attacking force at times, and it showed as James took the lead midway through the first half.
Matt Bainbridge played a raking ball into the area from deep and the ‘Fax defence allowed James Davies a free run at it. The midfielder took the ball down skilfully and fired in off the bar from close range to make it 1-0.
James doubled their lead towards the end of the half through a sweet curling strike from winger Freddie Ferrao. Ferrao collected the ball in the centre and bent his left footed shot in via the post to make it 2-0.
James could have put the game out of sight just before half-time as they produced their best move of the game to cut the Halifax defence open for the only real time.
Davies and Baxter combined well to split apart the right side of Halifax’s defence with ease, but Davies placed his shot just wide of the upright and Halifax survived to keep it at 2-0 going into the second half.
It was a quiet start to the period, with Halifax more than matching James in the middle of the park at time. Along with Gennoy, Wallace and Stevenson battled well and brought a level of control to Halifax’s play.
James’ front three were being closed down quickly and not given much chance to shoot, so Davies proved to be his side’s main threat. He came close again after being set up by some good work by James Offord to hold the ball up, but he couldn’t beat Murata.
A great finish from Jake Mundy then gave Halifax a chance at taking the game to penalties, as they capitalised on James’ relaxed attitude to make it 2-1.
Captain Andrew Wallace played a great ball in between Oscar Lynch and Sam Mellor in the James defence and Mundy paced his way through on goal. The striker then struck his shot across Bradley from the angle and into the bottom left to give the underdogs a glimmer of hope.
The men in orange seized the momentum but couldn’t create anything of substance. Gennoy fired wide from range and Cole had a tame strike kept out by Bradley before James settled the game down again and begun to look the epitome of comfort despite only holding a one goal advantage.
They had the ball in the net once more before the final whistle, but Tom Clarke’s strike was rightly ruled out for offside.
Ricardo gave them a slight scare when he struck the side netting from a wide angle, before Brownlow missed the target with a fairly simple chance from the other end, but it wasn’t to matter, as James saw out the game and claimed their place in the semi-finals.
“We always knew that it’d be a difficult game, but we acquitted ourselves well and did a good job,” said James Captain Richard Baxter after the final whistle. “I never felt we were in any danger of losing it. I thought it was pretty comfortable really.”
James will now face the winner of the Halifax 1sts v Halifax 2nds tie in next week’s semi-finals.