Football: Upperthong ready for showpiece tester

Mar 17 2009 by Mel Booth, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Upperthong were denied extending their lead when Rushworth pulled off a superb save from Wilson but, moments later, there was little the Westend keeper could do to stop an unmarked Oliver Tiplady, whose left-foot volley settled it.

Upperthong now face a final with Dalton Dynamoes, who produced a memorable 5-2 semi-final victory over Netherton.

Liam Hallam gave Netherton the lead early in the first half and, although Tazum Bongana pulled one back for Dalton, Netherton were soon back in the lead thanks to an Ashley Hirst strike.

With Netherton looking comfortable and over an hour played, Bongana levelled the scores again at 2-2 to set up a tense final period, but no-one could have expected what was to follow.

Within minutes Ryan Hall had turned the score in Dalton’s favour and, by the end of the game, further strikes from Thomas Sammon and Israel Johnson completed a 5-2 win.

In the Under 13s, Collegians won their semi-final against Longcroft Lions 3-1.

The Lions’ hopes of going through were high when Harrison Cowling opened the scoring in their semi-final encounter with Salendine Nook’s Collegians, but those hopes took a knock when Ben Harrison found an equaliser for Collegians.

With little to choose between the sides and time running out fast, extra-time seemed inevitable until Harrison struck again.

With only five minutes left the Lions were forced to push forward, giving Aidan Fisher space to fire home a third for Collegians.

Collegians now go on to meet Dalton Dynamoes in the final, who were 5-1 winners over YMCA.

Kedesh Goddard, Herve Landu, Lee Hallas, Jacob Buchanan and Ben Lloyd were the Dalton scorers.