Milford Athletic 3 St. Florence 4
St. Florence travelled to Milford Athletic on Saturday to face them for the third time in a row in all competitions, in the first leg of the Fourth Division Cup quarter-final.
With striker Mike Ryder cup tied, the Saints welcomed back Jamie Roberts into the centre of midfield and pushed Scott Smith up to partner his cousin Ashley Smith in attack.
Milford fielded a much changed line up from the team beaten 4-1 last week and took the lead with a smart finish from striker Jamie Davies.
The Saints rallied back and were rewarded with the equaliser after winger Colin Batley managed to win the ball back for the Saints, with Steve Lund finishing off a well-worked move for a deserved first goal for the club.
In keeping with the previous two games, it was a competitive match with hard challenges being made by both teams.
The Saints took the lead after a lovely turn in the box by Jamie Roberts feeding Scott Smith who made no mistake with the finish.
The lead was short lived however, as Milford striker Davies levelled the tie with another good finish from outside the box.
With 10 minutes still to go in the first half and four goals already scored, it was turning out to be a really entertaining cup tie.
St. Florence took the lead for the second time in the game when Ashley Smith was felled in the area after showing nimble footwork.
Ash dusted himself off and buried the resulting penalty.
The Saints could have doubled their lead, but Jamie Roberts unfortunately, had his finish disallowed for off-side. The half-time whistle blew with St. Florence 3-2 up.
The second half picked up where the first left off, first with both sides carving out good goal scoring opportunities.
A quick throw in by Colin Batley released Ashley Smith from the half-way line who raced through for his ninth in four games and 21st goal of the season.
For the first time in the match, the Saints managed to put a bit of daylight between the sides. Milford were then reduced to 10 men when Jamie Davies took a kick at right back Mark Roberts.
The Milford team, having used all their subs, were further reduced to nine men when their striker went off with a nasty knee injury. M
Milford showed their fighting spirits and managed to score a third goal to put the tie back in the balance.
Even with the numerical advantage, the Saints were happy when whistle blew for a full time score of 4-3, being the first team to beat Milford Athletic on their own turf this season.
The Saints take a valuable first leg lead to the return fixture in two weeks time.
Scott Smith put in another impressive display upfront showing lovely ball control on a heavy pitch.
Man-of-the-match has to go to centre half Barry Wolverson who put in an immense performance marshalling the back line.
Team: Will Thomas, Ben Blake, Mark McSweeny (capt.), Barry Wolverson, Mark Roberts, Steve Lund, Paul Davis, Jamie Roberts, Colin Batley, Ashley Smith, Scott Smith.