Non-League and Academy football writer

In a semi-final tie of this season’s Essex Alliance Football League Senior Division Cup, at Parsloes Park Hub on Tuesday night, Saint City faced CSM London. Saint City are currently in fifth place in the Senior Division standings, with CSM one place and one point above them in the league table. On Tuesday it was CSM London who booked their place in next month’s final at Dagenham & Redbridge FC, with a 1-0 win.

CSM London took the lead during the first minute of this cup tie. Euan Mutale would get to the ball inside the centre of the Saint City penalty area, after meeting the ball following a partial clearance, from Tyrell Huggins-Solomons’ free-kick delivery into the box. And Euan Mutale would volley the ball home powerfully, into the goal and on the turn, 0-1. Around ten to 15 minutes later, Euan Mutale would hold the ball up well, for a moment inside of the Saint City box, before turning on the ball and hitting a low effort just wide of Junior Custodio’s goal.

Following on from a very uneventful but competitive spell in the game, Saint City player Richard Seixas would take the ball around a CSM defender, and down the left-hand side of the away team’s penalty area, before seeing his powerful low effort on goal be well kept out by CSM’s goalkeeper, Ryan Thompson. Not too long before half-time, CSM forward Euan Mutale would get to a long throw-in inside of the centre of the Saint City box, with his fine volleyed attempt going narrowly over the goal.

Will Brobby’s CSM London side would start the second half well. A deep free-kick delivery from out on the right-hand side of the pitch, by Nana Sarfo, would find David Quarteyson at the back post of the Saint City goal. His volleyed effort would go over, off the top of Junior Custodio’s crossbar, however. Before a CSM corner-kick could be taken a couple of minutes later, their captain, Nana Sarfo, was shown a red card for an off the ball incident, as reaching this league cup final now became a lot more difficult for the visiting side. However, CSM would react positively as a team.

After CSM forward Rio Mudhar-Hedley had run onto the ball following Ryan Thompson’s long kick upfield, he would take the ball to the edge of the home team’s box, with his resulting low effort, from in a bit of space, going wide of the goal. Soon afterwards, and David Quarteyson would manage to get to the ball in between two Saint City defenders, before hitting his effort on the half-volley (from the edge of the Saint City box) on goal. But, Saint City goalkeeper Junior Custodio would do well to push the ball over his crossbar.

David Quarteyson was having a good game going forwards down the left flank, and a couple of minutes after his previous effort, he would win the ball well on the left-hand side of the pitch, before taking it forward to the edge of the Saint City box. His resulting whipped effort would go narrowly over the goal, however. CSM were awarded a penalty some time after, following a trip from the Saint City goalkeeper on Rio Mudhar-Hedley, after he had got to a short back pass inside of the penalty area. However, Tyrell Huggins-Solomons’ effort from the penalty spot was well saved and then superbly tipped onto his crossbar from the same CSM player, by Junior Custodio.

CSM would, as they had done for so much of this game, have to defend really well and work really hard as a team, during the latter stages of this cup tie. As Saint City really tested them in forward areas, especially late on in this game, as CSM made sure of their place in the final. This was a deserved win for CSM, in my opinion. Not only was it a really good team performance with real character shown, especially after their captain had been sent off. But, even with ten men, they still created the better goalscoring chances during the second half, as well as defending brilliantly as a team.

For my player of the match award on Tuesday, there were several contenders. Such as Kane Huggins-Solomons, who had an excellent game, George Breen, Junior Custodio, and David Quarteyson. But, my player of the match was CSM London’s left-back, Adam Kothia, who defended so well, and who read the game really well also, which was greatly needed during the second half, when Saint City had an extra player on the pitch than CSM. Congratulations to all at CSM London on reaching this season’s Senior Division Cup final, where they will face Waltham Forest Borough.