Lge Cup (H)
Lost 1-5
(H/T 1-2)
After 2 consecutive postponements Moulton were back in action at home against fellow promotion contenders Desborough Town but in the League cup quarter final. The visitors had more of the ball in the open exchanges but the Magpies had the first real chance when Matty Long played in Luca Iaciofano on the right and he saw his shot cannon back of the far post with the keeper well beaten. Moulton continued to get a foot hold in the game and when Iaciofano crossed Derek Okoye couldn’t get enough power in his header and it was easily saved. However with 20 minutes on the clock the home side took the lead when the referee awarded a free kick on the edge of the box following a foul on Long. Okoye took the kick and fired his shot against the wall and when the ball ran loose LONG stabbed it past the keeper for his first goal for the club. The Magpies continued to dominate and when an Ivandro Monteiro cross was half cleared Jamie Fuller shot just over, but the visitors eventually hit back when Adam Russell cut in from the right and fired a left foot past Jonny Vallance in the home goal for the equaliser. The game boiled over after 34 minutes when Okoye and a Desborough defender had a coming together, the referee saw nothing in the incident but a visiting substitute did and raced on to the field to confront Okoye. The inevitable handbags ensued and when eventually calmness prevailed the substitute was shown a straight red card. This incident seemed to fire up Desborough and they took the lead with a minute of the half left when Moulton gave away a silly free kick 25 yards out and Russell fired over the wall for his second of the game.
HALF TIME MOULTON 1 DESBOROUGH 2
Josh Melling and Nat Ansu replaced Francis Boateng and Okoye for the second half and with the half time tea not even drunk Russell completed his hat trick to put the visitors further ahead. In an attempt to get back into the game the Magpies changed to a 3 at the back with Jude Goodacre and Keiran Ashman replacing Monteiro and Adam Dicks but it failed to make any impression and on 70 mins Desborough killed off the tie when Ian Blaikie scored their 4th of the game. Moulton did have a decent spell after this and Ansu saw a shot saved by the keeper’s feet and an in-swinging corner from Iaciofano hit the bar, but it was the visitors who had the final say when Kai Magee scored a fifth with 7 minutes left. Moulton looked very rusty after a 2 week lay-off and a number of players were well below the usual standard.
FINAL SCORE MOULTON 1 DESBOROUGH 5
TEAM Vallance, Dicks, (Goodacre 58) Mortimer, Monteiro (Ashman 58),Jackson, Boateng (Melling 46) Iaciofano, Fuller, Okoye (Ansu 46) White, Long SUB not used Hall
PRESSBOX MAN OF THE MATCH - Luca Iaciofano