I was staying in Tottenham for work, so came across by tube to Cockfosters FC, at the very end of the Piccadilly line, to watch the home side play Moulton FC in the Gladwish Trophy Semi Final. The Chalk Lane ground is almost next to Cockfosters tube station and squeezed in next to the main road and the cricket ground. It is served by a decent club house and a long, two row, covered stand, with seating right up against the pitchside.

Cockfosters FC play in the Spartan South Midlands Football League Premier Division. They have had a decent season finishing in a creditable fifth place , with 64 points from 38 matches. Goals for Cockfosters FC this season have come from Antonio Michael (ten) and Bailey Stevenson (ten).

Their semi final opponents, Moulton FC, play a league lower in the Spartan South Midlands League First Division and hail from Northamptonshire. They have had a mixed season, scoring 97 league goals, but ending up outside the promotion places. Joe Evans, with 34 goals in 33 games and Dumedi Oloyede with 21 goals in 38 games have both had a blistering season and Moulton’s goal scoring confidence could prove to be very influential in tonight’s knock out fixture.

The game started with Cockfosters FC in the ascendency. They passed the ball well and Moulton FC had to defend well, with Francis Boateng putting in quite a shift to keep the home attack at bay.

In the 43rd minute, Cockfosters deservedly went 1-0 up when a long ball sailed into the box and Reece Barrett took it down well before finishing neatly.

Moulton came out with a new determination in the second half and began to play their way back into the game. It was no real surprise when Derrick Okoye slid in to score the equaliser in the 70th minute, making it 1-1.

At full time with the scores tied despite Moulton FC hitting the bar and Cockfosters having a chance cleared off the line and a second chance unbelievably saved by the Moulton keeper, Felipe Medgrios, the game went straight to a penalty shoot out.

With the score at 2-4 and Cockfosters having to score to stay in the tie, the Moulton keeper made another save. As the away side and their fans celebrated the assistant referee adjudged that Medgrios had moved early and the referee ordered the penalty to be retaken. This led to some infield friction with a member of the Moulton back room team being shown a red card.

The retaken kick was saved again by Felipe Medgrios, who would rightly have been anyone’s man of the match tonight. Moulton went into the final having beaten higher league opposition. The referee had to manage some poor behaviour on the field at the end and a further red card was awarded, with tempers running high between both fans and players.