Champions' Cup exit for brave King George

ON THE CHARGE . . . King George's Leon Melia (right) tries to get past a Charlestown opponent

Limeside King George 2, Charlestown 3

A LATE fightback was not quite enough as Limeside King George crashed out of the North-West Sunday Champion of Champions' Cup at the last-eight stage at the Oldham Academy North.

Wayne Ware and Carl Caffrey were on target for George in the game's closing stages, but by that time Charlestown were already 3-0 up.

George succumbed to two Charlestown penalties, the first of which gave the Blackley outfit a 25th-minute lead and the second on the hour mark which was hotly-disputed by George and resulted in the dismissal of Chris Robinson for a second yellow card offence.

George secretary Steve McKenna said: "We felt aggrieved with both penalties, especially the second one when a Charlestown player was fouled on the edge of the box and we thought it would be a free-kick because it was a foul.

CROSSBAR

"I think that Charlestown were slightly the better side, but we also hit the crossbar twice and made a good comeback towards the end."

Talking of crossbars, this game had to be switched from George's usual home ground at the Oasis Academy because of a broken crossbar at that venue caused by vandalism.

Although McKenna didn't feel that a change of ground had affected the tie, he did cite the absence of influential midfield man Liam Cashmore as a factor in the defeat.

McKenna added: "Liam has scored 22 goals for us this season from centre-midfield and we had to re-shuffle a bit, with Grant Marshall (normally a defender) playing in midfield and Carl Caffrey (attacking midfielder) having to play at right-back."

Leon Melia and Joe Heap both had efforts for George which hit the underside of the crossbar before bouncing down, but on both occasions there was no question of the ball being over the line.

Caffrey in particular excelled in his unfamiliar role and if his goal after 85 minutes had come a little earlier then the tie could well have gone on to a penalty shoot-out.

But time had run out for George, who can now concentrate their efforts on retaining their Jack Abbott Premier Division title in the Oldham Sunday League.

LIMESIDE KING GEORGE: Henry, Caffrey, C Berry, Robinson, W Berry, Heap, Stafford, Melia, Steele, Marshall, Buckley. Subs: Bond, Tindall, Ware, Balcerzak.

STAR MAN: Carl Caffrey (LKG) - Looked the part in an unfamiliar role.