Invitational Cup
FT: 4-3
Grounds: Barn Elms
Goalscorers: Matt Jackson, Ross Casserly, James Croft, Alex Sampson

Earlsfield came through the 2nd round of the Invitational Cup with a 4-3 win over Imperial College Old Boys 2nd XI to put them into 2nd in the group stage table.

The game got off to an awful start for the Division 2 team when in the opening 5 minutes, a Rory Delap-esque throw in from Imperial squirmed its way into the bottom right hand corner of the Earlsfield net. 0-1.

It took another 5 minutes for the boys in purple to begin to get out of their rut, with sloppy play in the build-up largely characterising the opening passages of Earlsfield’s game. This began to change though and it was not long until the Crowns had Imperial pegged back in their own box. During a relentless barrage of Earlsfield chances, striker Ross Casserly miraculously had the ball cleared off the line before being denied by a wonder save shortly afterwards and left midfielder Alex Sampson hit the bar with a curling right-footed effort.

The goal certainly seemed to be coming and finally did in the 15th minute of the game. Left back Ben Cross and Sampson worked the ball down the line before finding the feet of Casserly just beyond the half way line, who turned and pinged a pass over the top to find strike-partner Matt Jackson in the Imperial box and who subsequently slid the ball passed the onrushing goalkeeper. 1-1.

It did not take long for Jackson to return the favour to his fellow striker when, after some build up decent play on the edge of the Imperial box, he found Casserly down the channel between right-back and centre-back who managed to wrap the ball around the keeper and in off the bottom right-hand post. 2-1.

This was quickly followed up by a third for the crowns. Right midfielder James Croft taking a corner from the right hand side that worked its way through the crowd of players in the mix to find Sampson at the back post. Sampson hooked the ball back across to Croft and after working his way through 2 defenders, Croft finished off the play by slamming the ball into the Imperial goal. 3-1. Half time.

The second half did not go well for the Earlsfield who came out after the break in sluggish form and A few missed chances from the purple attacking quartet went on to be punished by their opponents. A hand ball on the edge of the Earlsfield box resulted in a free-kick being awarded, which, after an helping deflection off the wall, ended up finding its way past goalkeeper Charlie Acres. 3-2.

Not soon after the hand ball for the free kick was awarded, a controversial penalty was awarded for the same reason and this was rolled home by the Imperial striker. 3-3.

The response from Earlsfield was better but still, it’s fair to say, sloppy in large areas of possession. The Crowns were able to snatch the game back in their favour though after Croft rolled the ball across the Imperial box and (after a wild swing an a miss from Andy De La Torre) was stroked home by Sampson. 4-3. Full time.