Young Miners Cup Dream Ends in Defeat

Picture by John Newport

The road to Wembley came to an abrupt halt for Radstock Towns Under 18s on Tuesday night, when they entertained Exeter City in the First Round of the FA Youth Cup. The game was the young miners fifth of the competition, having overcome Brislington, Taunton, Paulton Rovers and Woking to book a place in the first round proper for the first time in the Clubs history.

A bumper crowd of 330 came out on a chilly November evening to see if Radstock's Cup run could continue, only for that dream to rapidly turn into a nightmare. Radstock found themselves one nil down after 5 minutes, when Jack Sparkes was brought down in the box and young Grecians Captain, Max Smallcome, converted the penalty. Exeter had two goals ruled out for offside, but their relentless pressure was soon rewarded with a further three first half goals that effectively ended the match as a contest by half time.

Radstock mounted a spirited start to the second half, which only seemed to inspire their opponents to take the game away from the young miners with Archie Collins, Sparkes and Ben Seymour putting the visitors seven nil up after only an hour. Yet Radstock rallied in a second half performance that was reminiscent of the clubs 2013 Somerset Cup encounter with Yeovil Town, where the Miners senior side mounted a brave rear guard action that shut out the full time professionals for over half an hour. The young miners shrugged of their palpable disappointment to dig in for the final 30 minutes of the second half, only to be undone with a final goal on the stroke of full time.

There could be little doubt that Radstock had finally met their match in a competition where their performances had won them so many admirers.