Shamrock Rovers Divisional cup

In this thrilling encounter, both sides put on a football spectacular in both defending and attacking football, and it took a piece of brilliance to settle this game with Amberswood in the first half defending brilliantly, with a dominant and commanding figure in goal.

Midway through the first half Amberswood broke the deadlock after John Warburton was racing down the right wing and was cynically brought down, William Hoey took the free kick just inside the oppositions half and the ball went past a couple of defenders, before a defender decided to control the ball with his hand inside the box, giving the referee no alternative but to award a penalty and Darren Ainscough stepped up to convert the penalty into the bottom left corner of the net.

The ball was back and forth throughout the rest of the half with chances at both ends but Amberswood should have been three or four goals up at half time with Dean Tomlinson missing two one on one opportunities and hitting a shot from all of twenty five yards out that crashed against the bar giving the goalkeeper no chance.

One nil at half time was always a risky half time lead and with Shamrock Rovers starting to control the game in midfield towards the end of the first half, Amberswood manager Phil Atherton made a significant change in formation, which had a negative effect as Shamrock Rovers turned a one nil deficit into a two one lead with twenty minutes to go as they received a free kick about thirty five yards out and floated a bread and butter cross into the Amberswood box, with no defenders dealing with it, the ball found its way past a stranded Danny Hilton and into the top far corner of the net for the equaliser, then with about half an hour to go the Shamrock Rovers picked up the ball on the left wing just inside the Amberswood half and raced towards the penalty area, dancing past three or four defenders, before coolly slotting the ball past Amberswood goalkeeper Danny Hilton. Amberswood manager Phil Atherton changed formation again in search of an equaliser to 4-3-3, and this had a more positive effect as the equaliser came in the form of a second penalty after a long ball was played over the defence, looking like it was going out of play, before Antony Whitton raced onto it and force the keeper to foul him in the box for a second penalty. Darren Ainscough stepped up to take it and the result was inevitable, 2-2.Shamrock scored a third with about ten minutes to go, after their man of the match centre midfielder, this time caused chaos down the left wing forced substitute centrback Andy Leatherbarrow to come to meet him near the corner flag and put in a challenge, but deemed to have fouled him. Shamrock took the free kick quickly back to the fullback who put a pin point cross onto the strikers head for him to make it three two.

Amberswood manager Phil Atherton decided to go for broke in search of an equaliser with a 4-2-4 formation with both wide players becoming strikers and it was wide player and captain John Warburton who produced this after striker Antony Whitton chased a ball down the channel with defenders all around him, seemed to lose his footing, but was still able to slide the ball square to the unmarked John Warburton who had time and composure to pick his spot and guide the ball with the outside of his foot into the bottom left hand corner of the net with only a minute left.

With this in mind, Amberswood manager Phil Atherton, settling for extra time, changed formation again to the usual formation of 4-4-2, getting himself ready for his extra time team talk, but nobody could have predicted what was to happen next as the centre midfielder received the ball from kick advanced into the Amberswood half and unleashed a shot, about thirty five yards out, which did'nt look like it was going to cause Amberswoods goal any threat but ended up going into the top corner for the winner.

Final Score: Shamrock Rovers 4 Amberswood 3 A game that could have been all over by half time, but could also have gone either way, ended after a moment of brilliance from the best player on the field.

Amberswoods Man Of The Match: Rick Surples who worked tirelessly and kept his opponents at bay.