Under-16s County Cup

Thompsons 2 Keswick 5

Keswick Under-16s pulled of an excellent win in the second round of the Cumberland FA County Cup at the Sheepmount in Carlisle.

Following two weekends of rained-off matches, Keswick lost the home advantage to Thompsons Under-16s.

This was a good win for a team that had not been able to play or train for three weeks, and the Cumberland FA tweeted that the result was "outstanding".

Still missing a manager, Keswick FC chairman Ben Challis was the "gaffer" on the day, superbly assisted by Sam Page and injured goalkeeper Josh Trafford.

At the beginning of the match, Thompsons dominated for some 10 minutes, but the Keswick defence held and held well, and stand-in keeper Brad Edmonds pulled off the first of a number of brilliant saves, pushing the ball on to the bar to prevent a certain goal.

Keswick soon settled and found their rhythm, with some excellent skills from play-maker Joe Bennett-Pepper.

Keswick grabbed the first goal from a Scott McGown strike.

Things got decidedly easier for Keswick when new signing Josh Wood was on hand to score their second, but Keswick then sat back and let Thompsons back into the game.

Excellent defensive work by another new signing Raheim Crawford, with some well-timed interceptions kept the home side at bay, with Edmonds notching up a couple more match-winning saves, one with an outstretched foot leaving Thompsons’ striker astounded that the ball hadn’t gone in.

Keswick soon grabbed a third goal when a defender handled in the box, and the referee instantly pointed to the spot.

Skipper George Frampton stepped up and put the ball into the bottom right corner, leaving the keeper stranded.

Keswick lost two of their key defenders to injury with Jonny Lamb and Declan McCade both having to retire.

But Thompsons fought back with a Matthew McCloumie goal from a well-worked build up which Edmonds was powerless to stop to make it 3-1.

Keswick pushed for a fourth goal and it was to prove inevitable, with Josh Wood on hand to score his second courtesy of a deflection off a Thompsons defender.

Thompsons then pulled another goal back when Ryan Litke pounced on a defensive error and had a clear run at Edmonds, who this time was beaten.

Keswick responded immediately, and McGown scored a brilliant goal from the left-hand side of the box.

In the last ten minutes, Thompsons tried to counter-attack but Sam Stone was handy in chasing down and blocking runs, and every ball that got to Dodson was fired back up the field with some power.

With McGown denied his hat-trick by an offside decision, the game ended 5-2 to Keswick.

This was a fantastic team effort which every single player contributed to, but the Keswick Man-of-the-Match was Raheim Crawford for an exceptional display at centre-back.