Brent 2-4 Blackheath
London Schools’ FA Corinthian Shield, 13th May 2017
Two late goals denied Brent’s Under-15 boys in the Final of the London Schools’ FA Cup. Visitors Blackheath struck twice in the final seven minutes to claim the Corinthian Shield by 4 -2.
The game was played at Hendon FC’s ground at Silver Jubilee Park in front of several hundred supporters and the crowd were treated to an open and very entertaining game with both teams giving their best in the May sunshine.
Blackheath started the game strongly with Brent conceding a couple of early free-kicks that both went wide. Blackheath took the lead in the 10th minute from their next free-kick; a thunderous shot giving David Krupinski in the Brent goal no chance as it cannoned in off the crossbar.
Within two minutes of Blackheath taking the lead Brent had equalised when Dominic D’Souza found William Ribeiro and his pass to Saul Mensah was superbly struck into the bottom corner from just inside the penalty area.
With Brent now finding their feet and the game more evenly matched, the home side’s Kahil Francis was unlucky not to score directly from a corner that hit the roof of the Blackheath net. Krupinski saved another Blackheath free kick in the 15th minute and with both teams attacking in a free-flowing game Brent almost took the lead mid-way through the first half. Shammar Swaby who had only been on the field for two minutes saw his powerful effort from outside the Blackheath penalty area acrobatically tipped over the crossbar.
Blackheath then almost took the lead with a powerful run down the left wing before cutting inside and having a shot that hit the Brent side-netting.
Brent deservedly took the lead in the 32nd minute when Mason Spencer’s free-kick into the Blackheath 6-yard box was met by Drilon Krasniqi who reacted the quickest to poke the ball home, to rapturous applause from the home supporters.
Unfortunately, Brent were unable to hold the lead until half time and conceded a penalty for a trip in the penalty area in the 35th minute which was converted to make the score 2-2.
In the opening minutes of the second half, Francis and Javarn Bernard in the Brent defence did well to thwart a Blackheath attack before Brent’s Ray Lluka saw his free-kick from just outside the Blackheath penalty area clear the crossbar.
Blackheath themselves went close in the 45th minute seeing a volley go just wide of the Brent post. Brent almost regained the lead in the 50th minute when Lluka passed to Krasniqi on the right and he ran into the Blackheath before crossing the ball and Swaby was inches away from getting to the ball and converting at the far post.
With both sides attacking at will, it was surprising that there were no further goals in the opening 15 minutes of the second half. Blackheath went close seeing a header clear the Brent crossbar before Lluka saw an effort well saved. Within 30 seconds Blackheath broke down the field and Krupinski in the Brent goal saved at full stretch with a shot from inside the penalty area. Moments later Mensah cleared the ball upfield from a Blackheath corner and found Felix Amoah who was prevented from having an effort on the Blackheath goal with a last ditch tackle.
David Krupinski was having an excellent game for in the home goal and he once again saved brilliantly at point blank range to prevent Blackheath taking the lead.
Francis and Rahul Bhundia were excellent marshalling the Brent defence and twice blocking efforts on the Brent goal before Krupinski was called upon again to make another fine save.
With just 7 minutes remaining, Blackheath finally broke the deadlock when the hosts failed to clear the ball and a visiting forward shot into the net. Amoah saw Brent’s final effort on the Blackheath goal go wide before Blackheath scored the decisive goal with two minutes remaining to make the final score 4-2.