Loxwood 2 Crowborough Athletic 0: Magpies book place in RUR Cup final

Loxwood progressed to face either Eastbourne Town or Arundel in the Sussex RUR Cup final after second half goals by Shaun Findlay and Ollie Gill brought them a 2-0 victory in the semi-final over Crowborough.
Football. County League Division 1. Loxwood v Chichester. Action from the match. Picture Liz Pearce. LP270914FL01 SUS-140927-190740008Football. County League Division 1. Loxwood v Chichester. Action from the match. Picture Liz Pearce. LP270914FL01 SUS-140927-190740008
Football. County League Division 1. Loxwood v Chichester. Action from the match. Picture Liz Pearce. LP270914FL01 SUS-140927-190740008

After surviving plenty of pressure from the Crows in the first half and playing against the strong wind at Lancing, the Magpies thought they were lucky to go into half-time with a 0-0 scoreline.

Crowborough, who were switched by the FA from the Sussex County League to the Southern Counties East League this season, had hit the crossbar and at the other end Dean Wright had somehow missed an open goal.

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But Loxwood looked the stronger side in the second half with the wind behind them.

Lewis Scally had a shot turned around the post by the opposing keeper, while Loxwood stopper Sam Smith had no saves to make in the second half.

On the hour mark, a ball into the box found Wright who fired in a shot which was saved, however, the ball fell in to the path of Findlay who scored from eight yards into the corner of the net.

The Crows’ keeper made two more saves from Tim Martin and Michael Wood before a second goal in the 90th minute where17-year-old Gill struck into the bottom corner.

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Delighted manager Dave Cocoracchio said: “We thought we were a bit lucky to still be 0-0 at half-time but thought we were going to be the stronger team in the second half.

“Although Crowborough tried to take hold of the game before going 1-0 down, they didn’t cause us too many problems at all.

“We defended well against them and the wind and our wide players were quite a threat.”
He added: “We have two 17-year-olds (Ollie Gill and Tom Summerfield) who are playing some fantastic football this season.”

Loxwood return to Sussex County League Division 1 action on Saturday when they are at home to local rivals Horsham YMCA.

Loxwood: Smith, Hoyte, Summerfield, French, Familton, Scally, Gill, Wood (Elkana 73), Martin, Findlay, Wright (Cave 83). Unused: Pritchard, Holvey, Swaine.

Manof the match: Eddie French.