Kidlington conquered by Radley

Visitors Radley edged past a resilient home challenge to progress to the red cup semi-finals in terribly windy conditions at Kidlington.

A strong Radley septet dominated the first game and only several good tackles by defender Marcus Tranter prevented a much heavier defeat for the home side. Two goals from Steffan Allen and one from Kieron Hill put the visitors 3-0 up before Luca Sykes set up Ethan Couling who powered home to make it 3-1. The Radley goalkeeper made several brilliant saves and it looked like a stalemate had been reached, until just before the end when the impressive Allen completed his hat-trick from close range to make the final score 4-1 in the first match.

Kidlington staged a fightback in the second game, with skipper Ben Stewart leading by example in an excellent performance. Playing with the wind in the first half, Hamish Hall put Kidlington ahead from a Stewart cross, then Judahne Medley put the home side 2-0 up in the game with the tie finely balanced at 4-3. Kidlington created many more chances before half-time and it looked like only a matter of time before they would draw level. However, the momentum changed just before half time. An apparently harmless effort from Matthew Lawrence took a wicked deflection off a Kidlington player to make the game score 2-1.

The second half saw Radley have the wind-advantage, and they soon equalised in the game with Ben Charlesworth netting, only for Jamie Slevin to restore Kidlington's second leg lead. Kidlington continued to create chances, and pushed forward desperate to get back into the tie, only for Radley to put the tie to bed in style right at the end, with a spectacular long-range effort from Lawrence which flew into the top corner. The second game thus finished 3-3 for an overall 7-4 victory to Radley.

Well done to both teams, who provided a highly entertaining game, which swung one way and then the other, and was played in an excellent spirit throughout.