Express & Star

Wanderers into the final after a narrow victory

Warstone Wanderers OB edged past Wolves Nation FC 1-0 in the Staffordshire FA TB Williamson Cup semi-final.

Published

Warstones started well against their opponents from the Wolverhampton Sunday League but missed four huge first-half chances to take the lead. The second half was more even, with both sides finding it difficult to put the ball in the net. The deadlock was eventually broken in the 70th minute when a ball was played down the right to Josh Carvell who cut inside and fired home into the bottom corner for the game’s only goal.

PayCare Open Age Division sides, Dudley Rangers and AFC Goldthorne faced off in a hard-fought Brian Lester Charity KO cup quarter final tie.

Dudley missed a penalty in the 8th minute, only for an even more significant moment to follow two minutes later when a Goldthorne defender was sent off for handball.

Dudley took the lead after 20 minutes with a Tyler Charris free kick from the edge of the box and made it 2-0 after half-time thanks to Reece Lenton’s low shot from outside the box.

Brad Lewis scored after 75 minutes to keep Goldthorne’s hopes alive, but Dudley managed to hold on for a spot in the semi-finals.

In the PayCare open age Division, Bloxwich edged out second-placed Black Country Blades in a nine-goal thriller. Blades’ Tyler Goodyear opened the scoring from a set piece, and within minutes Jack Hill extended the lead.

Bloxwich pulled one back through a Reagan Wardle penalty, only for Hill to grab his second, followed by a Lewis Round goal to make it 4-1 to Blades. An early goal from Bobby Speed set up the Bloxwich comeback, which was completed when goals from Wardle, Josh Langley and Speed made it 5-4 and gave the visitors a remarkable win.