Brilliant Birmingham Beat Bristol To Advance To Quarters
The Bournbrook pitches saw Birmingham Men’s first team produce a dominant display in Wednesday’s cup fixture against Bristol firsts, scoring 8 goals in the process. The results sees them safely into the quarter finals of the cup competition.
The home team started the game in impressive fashion, with all of the territory and possession, and they made the early dominance count, netting the first goal through captain George Sweeting on the 7th minute. This was followed 3 minutes later by a second; Eddie Way firing a low shot past the keeper from a penalty corner.
The rest of the first half passed comfortably for the Lions, with Bristol offering little to no threat on keeper Haisman’s goal. However in the second period they really turned the screw.
Birmingham came roaring out the blocks as they did in the first half, but this time they maintained their intensity for the whole 35 minutes. The tie was put to bed on the 43rd minute mark with a carbon copy of the second goal, Way firing in from a short corner. The 4th and 5th goals followed quickly, Josh Kelly in the 47th and Andy McGregor in the 50th, as Bristol really began to lose their shape.
Still Birmingham poured forward, and 3 goals in 3 minutes completed the demolition, with first Sweeting redirecting a goal-bound shot past the keeper on 57 minutes. If that goal had an element of luck to it the same cannot be said when Sweeting completed his hat-trick a minute later; his strike into the roof of the net from a short corner perhaps the pick of the 8. Chris Way completed the rout on the hour mark, tapping in after a slick move.
The performance in a tie that on paper looked a difficult one should help build confidence after a mixed league season which saw the Lions finish fourth in division North A, and captain Sweeting was keen to express the importance of keeping a clean sheet – the first they’ve managed this season. They march on to face champions of South A, Bath first team, in the quarter finals.
