Crusaders advance in Berks and Bucks cup

Hungerford navigated a potentially tricky tie in the Berks and Bucks senior cup by defeating local rivals Thatcham Town by three goals to nil. This competition certainly isn't top of the agenda for Ian Herring but he took the game seriously. There were of course a few changes with forwards Liam Ferdinand and Zidan Akers rested. Marcus Johnson-Schuster, Akinwale Odimayo and Yan Klukowski were the other three players to drop out from the last game versus Braintree Town. George Smith returned from suspension, Matt Berry-Hargreaves occupied the right back slot, James Constable, Conor Lynch and Kofi Halliday came into the attack.

Hungerford put themselves on the front foot straight away, earning themselves a corner inside forty seconds. They kept the pressure on once the corner was initially cleared with goalkeeper Archie Matthews forced into an early save by Joe Tomlinson. The hosts had early efforts of their own once they got into there stride. George Jeacock and Felipe Barcelos coming close to the opening goal. Just two minutes later the visitor's left winger Matt Jones strode down the left hand side and whipped in an inch perfect ball to James Constable. The striker headed home from close range to give Hungerford an early advantage. The lead fuelled confidence but both sides seemed to not be at their best as the match progressed. There was also a surprising lack of goalmouth action despite this being an end to end game. Constable dragged an effort wide before Toafiq Olomowewe tapped home a second goal. James Rusby had initially been denied by a Matthews save but Rusby's centre half partner was on hand to score five minutes before half time.

The Crusaders nearly got a third minutes after the restart with George Smith's ambitious attempt pushed clear by Matthews. Lynch's follow-up was also saved by the goalkeeper before he gathered a third shot in quick succession by Jones. James Tennant nearly brought the Kingfishers back into it volleying a foot wide of a post before forcing Adam Siviter into a fine reaction save. It was a crucial moment denying the hosts a foothold back into proceedings as three minutes later Joe Tomlinson eased past a flat-footed defence. He was denied on his first attempt but then passed in the rebound to make sure of victory. The game came to an entertaining close as the hosts gave a good account of themselves but were ultimately short of quality in front of goal and done in defence by a clinical Hungerford side.