Both teams lined up in cloudy conditions in Bedford knowing that this was going to be a big game with a place in the semi final of the County Cup at stake.

There was a good start from Bedford. After 3 minutes there was a dangerous cross that came in from the right. Fortunately their player could only poke the ball towards the goal and it ended up being a corner.

On the 12 minute mark the first meaningful attack for Galaxy led to a goal. Luke W passed to Dylan, who passed out to Matthew. He turned beautifully to take the ball down the wing. He then turned inside and exquisitely curled the ball into the far corner. A fantastic individual effort.

Just 2 minutes later Jack J strode out of defence and fed Jack R. He crossed to Ethan whose shot went wide.

The next 15 minutes there was no action of note and then out of nowhere a cross was deflected in and suddenly Bedford were level. This was disappointing as Spartak had looked the better team since scoring, although it was largely a midfield battle.

The scores remained level at the end of the first half with both teams knowing there was plenty to play for. Linslade had the sense that they were the stronger team, but Bedford took confidence as they walked off that they had equalised.

There was another strong start from Bedford in the second half, but Spartak gradually regained the ascendancy . 12 minutes into the half, Theo floated in a ball from tje left and Ethan had the faintest of flicks to take the ball over the keeper and regain Galaxy’s lead.

With 10 minutes to go, there was fantastic work from Matthew down the right and he crossed the ball into a really dangerous position but Spartak could not poke the ball home. Then Theo skilfully turned inside and was fouled just outside the box. However the freekick led to nothing.

Bedford knew however that one goal was all they needed. In one attack their striker shot from 15 yards but fortunately straight at Thomas who held on well.

Right at the death Bedford were awarded a free kick from 20 yards. They struck the ball true and low into the bottom left corner to bring the teams back level and send the match to penalties.

Spartak had edged the match but hadn’t managed to get that 2 goal lead and Bedford always had the ability to score.

And so, onto to the penalty shoot out:
Matthew: fast low drive to bottom right 1-0
BPR: also to the right 1-1
Luke W: scored to left 2-1
BPR: centrally shot, Thomas got a hand to it but couldn’t keep it out. 2-2
Dylan: fierce shot to right. GK guessed the right way but couldn’t prevent the goal. 3-2
BPR: high and left 3-3
Ethan: straight down the middle 4-3
BPR: Brilliant save from Thomas as penalty was heading in just by the post.
Joseph: strode up and scored to send Spartak through to the semis! 5-3

Spartak can finally look forward to a home fixture in this year’s County Cup as they now roll on to the semi-finals and a clash on April 5th against a talented Wixams side. What an exciting match that’s going to be.