It was semi-final heartbreak for the second year running as St. Modwen were again beaten on penalties at the 2023 Land Aid Commonwealth Cup.
Raising money to support our partners at LandAid, the team were unbeaten on the night in normal time having won all three of the group stage games before navigating their way through a crunch quarter-final clash. It was EH Smith who awaited us in the semi-finals and an incredibly tight affair saw us come back from going 1-0 down to level the game and force a winner to be chosen via a penalty shoot-out.
Unfortunately for us, EH Smith managed to slot home all three of their penalties, whilst an unnamed member of our construction team hit the post. News of the player’s miss will not be well received back in his native Stoke…
It had all started so well as we dispatched Howells with relative ease to get the tournament underway with a 4-0 win. Momentum was building as we saw off PJA 3-1 in game two – with Kailan Patel scoring a couple of absolute worldies – before securing a 100% record in the group stages with victory over Stantec – the talking point from this game without doubt being the fancy footwork of Ben Silcock to round the score off, ignoring the pleas of Ian Martin to square the ball and help him secure his hat-trick.
Ian ultimately got his moment of glory in the quarter-final, scoring the only goal as we squeezed past Cundall to set up the tie with EH Smith.
Having gone a goal down, it took a moment of genius from Kailan yet again, backheeling a direct free-kick into the bottom corner, catching both his teammates and the opposition by surprise.
However, it was not to be and so for the second year in a row, we exited the tournament on penalties.
Congratulations to ARUP Campus who went on to lift the trophy and we’ll see you all again next year.
In the meantime, we’re off to practice our penalties…
Player of the Tournament (as voted for by their teammates):
- Kailan Patel
Top goalscorer:
- Ian Martin – 4
- Kailan Patel – 3
- Ben Silcock – 2
- Mitul Kholia – 2
- Damien Holdstock – 1
