The Cobblers’ hopes of a Les Phillips Cup final appearance were dashed in this semi-final defeat by the runaway league leaders but the scoreline gives a misleading impression of the match where the outcome remained in the balance until the 78 th minute when the home side registered their second goal, writes Antony Randle

Yes, they may have hit the woodwork a couple of times in the second half but after scoring their opener in the tenth minute, the Street defenders fatally hesitating in expectation of an offside flag which wasn’t raised, Portishead failed to contrive another serious attempt on goal and it was the visitors who came closest to scoring in the last few minutes of the first half. The Portishead keeper pulled off a stunning save to keep out Scott Laird’s beautifully-struck free-kick and was needed again soon afterwards to prevent Harry Foster on the stretch from converting Josh Radford’s cross-cum-shot.

Whilst it’s fair to say Portishead had the better of the second half it should be noted that suspensions and injury had deprived Street of five regulars with their bench featuring three members of the Under-18 squad, all of whom made appearances as The Cobblers strove for an equaliser, Zeph Collins hitting a couple of long-range efforts off-target. The home side were also possibly fortunate to escape being reduced to ten men when the referee deemed a foul to frustrate a two-on-two break by Street worthy
only of a yellow card. The second goal came shortly afterwards and the third in the 90th minute had an air of inevitability about it as Street pushed forward hoping for a grandstand finish.