Birmingham Senior Cup Semi Awaits

The Birmingham Senior Cup quarter-final was held earlier this week. Birmingham City’s U21 side took on Lye Town in a bid to reach the semi-final which will be played shortly. The non-league side would always be up for the game but the conditions and pitch were not in a great state.

Defender Emmanuel Mbende made sure that Richard Beale (coach) wasn’t taking things easy. He got injured in the warm up and so Beale made the decision to start Seddon.

The line-up as shown on the official bcfc.com site was as follows:
Blues: Connal Trueman, Perry Cotton, Dominic Bernard, Luke Maxwell, Steve Seddon, Wes Harding, Wes McDonald (David Popa 87), Noe Baba, Alex Jones, George O`Neill (Liam Truslove 55), Kyle McFarlane.
Unused Subs: Corey O`Keeffe, Jake Weaver

Luke Maxwell was a name that will not be familiar to many. He recently signed from Kidderminster and was making his first start for the Birmingham boys.

Due to the pitch conditions, it took a while for both teams to get going and the first half was very sluggish. The first thing to happen was when McDonald fired a shot across goal that didn’t achieve a great deal. However, it showed signs that we had an attacking threat.

McDonald was looking like the player who would make a difference. He was all over the pitch trying to create chances. His next opportunity came from a free kick but he disappointingly hit it straight at a defender.

Free kicks seemed like the only way one of these two teams would score. Overfield, the Lye play maker, tried to bend the ball past the Birmingham goalkeeper but Trueman collected it with ease.
At half time it was 0-0, a rather dull game so far.

The second half started in the same way that the first had ended; lacking much quality. But on 58 minutes, that could have changed. Maxwell, who was my player of the match, sloted Jones through but his shot got blocked by an outstanding piece of defending from the Lye centre half. Very unlucky.

Maxwell was increasing in confidence. He was trying 30 yard shots which despite being easy for the ‘keeper, were on target. This kind of creativity is very impressive for such a young lad. He then thought he had clinched the winner on the 80 minute marker. His late run so an opportunity to head the ball. This attempt hit the bar and bounced clear.

Full time: 0-0.
Now for penalties, finally some excitement…
The official Bcfc.com site shoes how the penalty shoot-out went…
Liam Truslove (Blues) – scored 0-1
James Spray (Lye) – scored 1-1
David Popa (Blues) – scored 1-2
Tom Overfield (Lye) – saved 1-2
Alex Jones (Blues) – scored 1-3
Adam Meacham (Lye) – scored 2-3
Noe Baba (Blues) – saved 2-3
Alex Dallisson (Lye) – saved 2-3
Steve Seddon (Blues) – scored 2-4

2 brilliant saves from Trueman who has all the potential in the world to be an outstanding goalkeeper has ensured the Birmingham City U21’s are through to the semi-final of the Birmingham Senior Cup. If they were to retain this, it would be the second time in as many years.