Keswick Go Marching On

After previous unsuccessful attempts to reach round three, Keswick found themselves in unfamiliar territory in the draw, which by this stage, produces no easy draws. Such was the case when Brigg were pulled out of the hat to face KWC, a team riding high in their own domestic league were, on paper, the clear favourites to progress. However within any sport, cup fixtures have a tendency to stray from the formbook. With a difficult afternoon ahead, Keswick fielded their strongest team available and although were without James Fennell, welcomed Peter Sutton back into the fold.

The game began at a frantic pace as both sides found their touch; Keswick however found theirs first and hit the visitors on the counter attack. Keswick played the ball up to Rob Cook who offloaded perfectly into the path of Clive Swanston to race down the left before picking out Mark Proctor who’s deft touch was enough to deceive the keeper and give the Cumbrians the early advantage.

Brigg didn’t even have time to be shellshocked as moments later the scoreline doubled. Brigg tried to push out of defence but captain Thomas Morgan retrieved possession and after skipping past the defender to the byline teed up Rob Cook for a simple finish.

Despite a spirited period of play from the Yorkshire side where they forced a couple of short corners, a quick response was void. Chris Mattear soaked up any open play attacks and charged down the shorts repeatedly.

As Brigg began to overwhelm the Keswick half Paul Sloan won possession and Keswick flew on the counter attack. Within a matter of second the ball was in the opposition D and although an initial strike was blocked – the ball fell to Thomas Morgan who lashed the ball home for a commanding lead.

Keswick earned themselves a couple more chances but were met with fine saves to keep the fixture somewhat alive and eventually, after another short corner, the visitors pulled a goal back through a nice drag flick just before the half time break.

After the restart Brigg pushed forward with more urgency than real purpose as they tried to claw their way back into the game. This in turn pegged Keswick back and however Robert Owen and Shaun Wilson cut out and intercepted the majority of the attacking waves. Brigg then began to play for short corners which at this point seemed their only real viable method of scoring and after their umpteenth attempt, pulled another goal back to make it 3-2.

The next goal was ultimately going to change the tie in one way or another and as such both teams attacked hard when in possession but defended harder when without. Half chances were created but not converted at both ends but another Keswick counter attack all but sealed the game. Thomas Morgan flashed the ball from right to left to Rob Cook and while everyone from either team followed suit, Peter Sutton snuck back post to retrieve a pin point ball from Rob Cook before flicking the ball into the net.

The game then became very open and Keswick in truth could and should have added more until Clive Swanston intercepted a clearance and offloaded Robert Owen who played a lovely through ball into the path of Thomas Morgan for a clear shot and his second of the afternoon. Brigg netted themselves just before the end to give the scoreline a little more credibility but the tie was settled and deservedly so after an excellent performance, Keswick find themselves in the fourth round.