Brandon Hamme believes exciting times lie ahead after deadly double from top-scorer Zach Cohen guided Mill Hill Dons into their second cup final of the season as they beat arch rivals Hertswood Vale at Goffs Academy.
April 1, 2019 11:47
BARRY GOLDSTEIN TROPHY QUARTER-FINAL
MILL HILL DONS 4 HERTSWOOD VALE 2
The home side made a flying start when Zach Cohen put a ball through to Sam Stead who got himself in behind the Vale left-back to finish nicely from close-range after nine minutes.
Stead had the defender "on toast" according to his manager, but Vale responded immediately when danger man James Millet was bundled over in the box after great work from Ben Mandel, with top-scorer Millet dusting himself down before converting his 20th goal of the season.
The Dons regained the lead on 21 minutes after a lovely ball over the top from Ryan Kramer found Cohen who finished beautifully.
The hosts went into half-time holding a narrow advantage and they made it 3-1 straight on from the restart when Cohen once again the provided with a delighted ball through to Joe Reece whose pace took him away from the defenders as he slotted it past the keeper with some conviction.
It was 4-1 two minutes later with a superb strike from Cohen for his second of the game. From that point on it was chance after chance for the Dons against a tiring Vale, but they weren’t able to find the net once again.
The Dons started to try their luck from distance, with Ryan Kramer coming close to getting a fifth with a superb long-range effort that hit the inside of the post and Ben Kaye nodded home Vale's second following an inch-perfect cross from Elio Elia, but their race had been run.
Delighted Dons boss Hamme told JC Sport: "In reality we should have scored more but we did what we needed to do and the boys all put a great shift in, so it’s only really a minor issue that we will work on come training.
"We are playing with great confidence and playing some of the best stuff I’ve seen us play in my three years in charge, with two semi finals coming up there are some real exciting times ahead."
Vale joint-manager Jacob Emanuel told JC Sport: "Well played to MH Dons. They were definitely better on the day, and took their chances well."
Emanuel believes a lack of match sharpness hampered Vale's chances, and said: "Unfortunately for us, this game just came at the wrong time – our league season ended four weeks ago and a lack of game time in the past month was obvious.
"Without a number of key players we struggled to convert our creativity into clear-cut chances. It’s a shame as we would’ve liked to have had a real crack at the BGT. Despite the loss, I felt that James Millet and Harry Marlow in particular had strong games and both were unlucky to be on the losing side."
Emanuel went on to say: "Best of luck to MH Dons in the next round – as I said before the game, to have a Division Two team in two semi-finals is a fantastic achievement."
"For us, plans have already begun for next season to be ready, and as strong as possible to compete in Division One. We’re absolutely buzzing with how our campaign has gone this term, and although promotion was the end goal, I’d be lying if I said Danny and I didn’t want to get our hands on the title.
"All eyes will be on the remaining few weeks of the season! I’m sure the neutrals will be gutted without a Mill Hill Dons vs Hertswood Vale ‘rivalry’ for a season at least."