Shock on the cards but fades in the second half!

Balham 3 South Park 6

At half-time, a giant-killing of Saudi Arabia proportions was on the cards with Balham unexpectedly 2-1 up. Even with 20 minutes to go, the boys were level but the Premier Elite team's class shone through in the final few minutes to see them through to the next round of the Cup.

On a horrendously muddy day, the Whites equipped themselves well throughout the match and should not be too disheartened about the defeat with the opposition manager clearly surprised about the quality of our performance. Nonetheless, it was clear from the outset that South Park had some quality players, particularly in midfield where they continuously found gaps in the hole before our defence, and swept the ball out wide to overlapping wingers on numerous occasions.

Despite this, the boys took an unexpected lead after a surprisingly shaky-looking goalkeeper messed up a clearance from the back. Jude was on hand to poke the ball in for an unexpected lead. For the next 5 minutes, Balham were running all around the park, challenging for every ball and making life difficult for the team in red. The away side had a spell of pressure without creating too much, but sadly were gifted a goal from a goalkeeper mistake by Jacob and were back level.

To the Whites' credit, they continued to play well - with Patrick putting lots of tackles in, Jacob making a couple of decent saves, and Jude almost capitalising on another poor defensive mistake to go ahead. South Park were pressing superbly, still passing the ball well despite the increasingly cut-up pitch, and a combination of Patrick and Jacob cleared the ball off the line on one attack, before the next one resulting in a goal being chalked off for offside.

Somehow, Balham then took the lead for the second time in the game after a lofted free-kick from Ty was not deal with by the keeper. Max was on hand to follow in after a poor parry, and his fine goalscoring form continues.

The rest of the half was a back to the walls effort, with Chris somehow diverting a ball just over the bar after yet another attack down the right. The boys then faced a flurry of corners, putting numerous blocks in, and one occasion being grateful for Charlie's last-ditch header to clear. Balham managed to hold firm, despite some disappointing bickering amongst themselves as the half drew to a close.

As the pitch started to cut up in the second-half, it was going to require a gargantuan effort to stay ahead. Astonishingly, the boys nearly scored a third immediately after a tremendous drive from Matthieu found Max who screwed the ball just wide of the post. At the other end, from another cutback to the edge of the box, Jacob made up for his earlier error with a phenomenal save diving to his left. Could the boys hang on?

Sadly, it was not to be. After another well-worked move, South Park put a beautiful cross in from the right for an unmarked striker to head home and the scores were level. With twenty minutes to go, this felt like a pivotal moment and so it proved. They hit the bar shortly afterwards, and really should have scored after a defensive error, but finally the third came after a poor mix up at the back when the boys really should have cleared it.

South Park then accelerated with a couple of goals on the break and the tie was over, despite their goalkeeper - enduring a nightmare game - being sent off hacking Max down just outside the box. It wasn't quite as bad as Wayne Hennessy, but not far off! Tomasz, reffing due to yet another no-show, looked quite delighted brandishing his invisible red card.

Balham pulled one back after great play from Ty and Patrick left Max free to tap the ball in. With the last play of the game, after a foul from Matthieu at the edge of the box, South Park scored a sixth with an unstoppable free-kick into the corner (lesson - put someone on the post in those situations?).

With many clubs from our division already knocked out of the Cup, there were three League games today, including a first defeat for Sheen. New leaders of the division are Sutton Common, although they have played more games than others at the top.

Farnham Town Youth Blues 4:2 Ashford Town (Middx) Juniors Tangerines

Sheen Lions 1:3 Sutton Common Rovers Colts Yellows

Worcester Park Colts Blues 2:4 Epsom & Ewell Colts Blues