Chester Nomads Colts 3 v 5 AFC Waverton Wasps

Duke of Westminster Cup Semi Final (18 April 2010)

Waverton Scorers (season's total in brackets)

Matt Sheen  5 (39)

Coach & Supporters MoM - Matt Sheen

Report

After two straight defeats (their first of the season), followed by a three week break, it was important for Waverton to get back to winning ways. Oh, and there was the small matter of a Cup Final to get through to as well! Having first made it difficult for themselves (in what's now their traditional style) the Wasps did indeed taste victory again, beating the Colts 5-3 and will, once again, face the "old enemy" Boughton in the Westminster Cup Final.

Waverton started strongly and took a very early lead, just a couple of minutes in, when the Colts keeper missed his clearance from a back pass allowing Matt Sheen to slot the ball into an empty net. With confidence high from the early goal the Wasps then dominated the next twenty minutes, playing some good fast passing football, and deservedly took a two goal lead from another Matt Sheen strike.

At this stage Waverton were also performing well in defence, and the Colts had not had a serious strike on goal. Just in case they made it to easy for themselves however (and too calm for the supporters!) they then made a big mistake, with a defender & goalkeeper pass-back mix up allowing a Colts attacker to simply tap the ball into another empty net to bring the score back to 2-1. Rocked onto their heels by this set back the Wasps previous dominance suddenly seemed to evaporate at this point, and the Colts pushed forward with new found confidence. It was therefore Waverton who were happiest to get to the break with no further score.

Having regrouped at half time Waverton started the second half better again. In general possession and play they were always the better team throughout, so it was no surprise when they regained their two goal advantage 5 minutes into the second period, and even less surprise that it was Matt Sheen's hat-trick goal that got them there.

Realising that it was "now or never" Colts started to push more players forward, and with a two goal lead restored Waverton started to sit back too much rather than continuing to push for another goal. The result was a period of Colts pressure, which Waverton withstood well for a while, but then made another couple of defensive errors, both of which were punished by good finishes, and suddenly it was 3-3 with about twenty minutes of the game still remaining.

All season though Waverton have shown great character when their "backs are against the wall". Having found themselves only level in a game they'd dominated for long periods they could have panicked, but instead they simply regrouped and, once again, started to play the better football. Having created a number of openings they retook the lead 4-3 (Matt's fourth) with about ten minutes remaining. With Colts throwing even more men forward the defence didn't make any more errors, and the minutes started to tick away (slowly!). In an attempt to equalise Nomads then committed everybody forward allowing Sam Jones to latch on to a long through ball and get in one on one with the keeper, and although his shot was parried "you know who" had managed to get up in support to knock in his fifth goal of the game (winning him both MoM awards) and put the wasps 5-3 up.

Having played out the last couple of minutes, with no further incident, Waverton eventually won a game that really should have been considerably easier, and would have been had it not been livened up by pressing the "self destruct button" on a couple of occasions! So, with a cup final place assured in May, it's now back to league action next week (against Castrol) with the Double still a very firm possibility (if the team can just stay calm!).     

AFC Waverton Wasps 0 v 2 Vauxhall Motors

Cheshire FA Minor Cup Final (21 March 2010, at FC Heswall)

Coach's MoM - Ollie Tyler

Report

After a fantastic run, in their first ever Cheshire County Cup campaign, Waverton were pitched against a very strong Vauxhalls team in the final, with over 90 other teams having already been eliminated.

The Wasps made a very strong start, attacking down the hill, and for the first 15/20 minutes they played some of their best passing football of the season. Throughout this period Waverton totally dominated the game, and the Vauxhall team looked a bit shellshocked and surprised that they were getting outplayed all over the pitch. However Waverton didn't make the most of this advantage. They created five or six really good openings, but in each case the final shot was either off the mark or underhit, and as a result the Wasps didn't take the lead their play deserved and for all their dominance they never seriously troubled the Vauxhall keeper.

The final fifteen minutes of the first half were more even, but with both defences remaining dominant, and it was unsurprising to see the game reach the half time interval goal-less. At the break though it was definitely Waverton who had the most to regret about only being on level terms.

Vauxhall changed their formation at half time, strengthening their midfield, and in addition they were now kicking down the slope for the second period. This saw a real change around in the game's fortunes and Waverton started to struggle to create any real danger. It remained a cagey game however, and when the breakthrough eventually came, after about 50 minutes, it was a rather scrappy goal (from a mix up in the Waverton defence) rather than any great attacking move which allowed Vauxhall to take the lead.

Although Waverton pushed forward for an equaliser they never really seemed to be able to regain the momentum they'd achieved in the first half, or create any significant openings. After Vauxhall doubled their lead from a corner with 10/15 minutes left they sat back on their lead, and Waverton never really looked like pulling things back. In fact the more likely scorers throughout the second half were Vauxhall, and it was only through some great saves by Ollie Tyler that the Wasps were able to prevent any further additions to the scoreline.

Genuinely a game of two halves. Had Waverton gone one or two goals ahead in the first half, as their dominance desrved, then they'd probably have gone on to win the game. With the Wasps having missed their chance though, Vauxhall then dominated the second half and on the evidence of that period probably deserved their victory. While it's hard not to be disappointed at finishing runners-up, and not collecting the trophy, Waverton should be very proud of beating some very good teams along the way, and deservedly finished second in the whole County!

Malpas & District 6 v 4 AFC Waverton Wasps

Chester & District League (14 March 2010)

Waverton Scorers (season's total in brackets)

Matt Sheen  2 (34)

Luke White  2 (4)

Coach's MoM  -  Cameron Faulkner

Report

After a run of 17 unbeaten competitive games the Wasps finally lost that record with a very lacklustre performance against Malpas at Carden Park.

Kicking off downhill in the first half Waverton got off to a reasonable start (although Malpas were already showing signs of being much more competitive than they had in the first meeting of the two teams back in January), and took a one goal lead after a good finish from top scorer Matt Sheen.

Instead of building on this lead however the whole team seemed to tackle the remainder of the half quite complacently, and Malpas quickly gained in confidence. After a couple of defensive slip ups from Waverton, and one excellent strike from Malpas, the home side took a surprising (but not undeserved) 3-1 lead into the break.

Now Waverton had been behind at HT a number of times earlier in the season, only to fight back strongly in the second period, and when Matt Sheen scored a second to make it 3-2 just after half-time it looked for a moment like it might happen again. However a quick reply from Malpas, and a very undeserved penalty (for handball) allowed the home team to move back ahead 5-2, after which the Waverton team's heads dropped (for the first time this season) and despite a late flurry they never really got back into the game and ended up 6-4 losers.

Although it was a well below par performance from the Wasps, credit must also be given to a Malpas side who'd improved remarkably over their earlier season form and, on the day, thoroughly deserved the victory. Waverton now need to win two of their remaining three league games to win their first League title, so it's still well within grasp although they'll need to play better than this!