The Avenue Reserves side faced Shelf United in the County Cup on Friday evening and suffered a 5-0 defeat at the hands of their near neighbours.
Coach Owen Murphy had selection problems prior to the match as a result of the recent West Riding Cup encounter with South Leeds, unfortunately losing 3-2 in a thrilling game, but it also meant the players who took part were now cup tied and couldn’t play against Shelf.
Several regulars from the Reserves weren’t cup tied and the rest of the side was made up of scholars, so against better class opposition, the odds were stacked against them, and so it proved.
Shelf looked good in possession and looked threatening from the start, taking just eight minutes to get in front. George Elliott lost the ball on the halfway line and it ended up just outside the Avenue area. Failing to clear the danger, the defence could only watch as a Shelf player lobbed the ball over Luke Morris and into the net.
Two minutes later, it was almost 2-0 when a long ball across goal was blazed wide from close range. It wasn’t long before Shelf scored a second goal, although there was a hint of offside about it. The Avenue defence was caught square across the pitch, all expecting the official to blow as it seemed a Shelf forward had drifted beyond them. In the silence, no signal came and the forward ran unopposed to score.
It was one way traffic as Avenue just couldn’t get dominate their opponents, always missing out on the second ball and Morris coming to the rescue with a one handed save while falling backwards.
However, Avenue then had their best period of the match, a shot from Oskar Wota in the 27th minute being well saved. From the resulting corner the ball was played to Lucas Shaw who threaded a lovely pass to Wota. The Avenue striker was just about to pull the trigger when a toe poke took the ball of his foot, much to the frustration of all.
A mistimed tackle then brought a booking for Jayden Bedeau, the Avenue right back, although it was the only poor tackle of the match to be fair as it was played in a great spirit and well officiated.
Going in at just 2-0 down would give the Avenue youngsters the chance to regroup at the break, but the game was effectively put out of reach in the closing minutes of the half. On 43 minutes, the ball went to Murphy, who out of necessity was playing alongside his younger charges. Under pressure, he lost possession and it was picked up by a Shelf player and dispatched to make it 3-0.
Seconds later, there was almost an own goal from Avenue, the ball skidding past the post, but from the resulting corner, hesitation in defence led to a Shelf player prodding the ball in from close range.
With a mountain to climb, it was now a case of damage limitation against a side who were clearly better than Avenue. On 55 minutes, Shelf scored a fifth goal and we feared the worst. However, Shelf seemed to take their foot off the pedal somewhat and Avenue began to make a game of it.
Jack Revans went close with a shot just after Shelf had gone 5-0 up, but six minutes later, the Avenue number 11 could only watch as his 30 yard shot flew over the Shelf goalkeeper and come back off the crossbar, which summed up their night.
Morris was called upon to make a couple of good saves in the remainder of the half, whereas Avenue gave the visiting custodian plenty to do in return. Harry Varley appeared from the Avenue bench and gave another good account of himself as he fights his way back to fitness.
The visitors were always in control but the Avenue youngsters couldn’t be faulted for their efforts and at least they had another reasonably good turnout to support them. We wish Shelf all the best in the next round of the cup and no doubt Avenue will be looking forward to getting back to league action on Saturday with a full strength side. The final score; Avenue 0 Shelf United 5.