Rovers U14s MJPL Team have reached The Final of The MJPL Cup, beating Oldbury United 2-0. Find out who their opponents in the final are and read more for an indepth match report.
Jae Martin-Whites U14 MJPL Team were on the victory trail yet again with an impressive 2-0 MJPL Cup Semi-Final victory over Oldbury United U14.
The team, who finished 4th in the Nationals Tournament in June 2023 are now looking to make some more noise in the form of silverware in this coverted competition.
Full match report below:
Oldbury United U14s v Bromsgrove Rovers AFC U14s
Semi-Final MJPL U14 Trophy
Saturday, 17th February 2024
Magnificent Rovers made it through to the final of the MJPL Trophy on Saturday with a hard fought 2-0 victory against Oldbury United at Warley RFC, thanks to two goals from the left boot of Sam Spooner in the second half.
The first half of the contest was a tale of tough tackles and half chances with both sides cancelling each other out. It wasn’t until the 8th minute that either side had a sight of goal when Oldbury got away down the left hand side, only for Rovers’ defender Lawrence to come across with a great recovery tackle to snuff out the opportunity.
It was Lawrence involved again ten minutes later with a strong challenge on the Oldbury attacker, which resulted in huge penalty appeals from the Oldbury coaches, only for the referee to wave play on.
Due to the weather conditions of the preceding week, it was always going to be a difficult pitch to play total football on but on 20 minutes, Rovers managed a fine one touch move involving five players which ended with a shot from Tommie Foulkes that flew just wide.
Two minutes later, Oldbury had the best chance of the half with Nicholas Buselli getting free down the left hand side. He managed to get his shot off but it rolled agonisingly wide of the post.
For all the hustle and bustle of the first half, the only shot on target in that period came in the 24th minute with a speculative shot from outside the area from Rovers’ Sam Spooner but it was straight into the keeper’s arms.
Half-Time: Oldbury United U14 0-0 Bromsgrove Rovers AFC U14
Rovers came out the stronger of the two teams after the interval, with most of the play taking part in Oldbury’s half early on. Mason Wilson was first to test the Oldbury keeper when put through on goal but the keeper stuck his right boot out to make the save.
The early pressure in the second half paid off just minutes later when Rovers keeper, Samson Reisner, kicked a long ball down field, which was held up well by Riley Steatham as he laid it off to Spooner. The Oldbury defence seemed to open up for him as he drove forward on the left hand side of the penalty area and coolly slotted it past the keeper to put Rovers one up.
The game became a bit niggly after the goal with Oldbury conceding a lot of free kicks in their own half. It was one of those free kicks which resulted in Rovers extending their lead and putting them within touching distance of the final. The ball found it’s way to Rio Depper-Gwilliams on the right hand side where he dinked a ball to the far post. It looked as though the ball was going out for a goal kick but defender, Jacob Cheshire, remarkably kept the ball in and headed it back into the danger area where Spooner was at hand to smash the ball into the roof of the net and grab his second of the game.
Oldbury pushed for a goal that would get them back into the tie and although they had a couple of moments late on where the ball was pinging around in the Rovers penalty area, they never really looked like scoring and it was Rovers who were celebrating at the final whistle.
They now go on to play Aylestone Park Youth U14s in the final. Date and venue to be confirmed.
