Birmingham 50’s comfortable winners in the end over Mansfield in National Cup

Birmingham 50’s took on Mansfield Community at Brick kiln Lane in the second round of the WFA National Cup on Saturday the 27th of May.

The Blues dominated the first half possession and chances, but the visitors held out, their keeper saving everything, before and after being momentarily laid out when a vicious Shand effort caught him on the chin. The game remained very much in the balance at half-time, although Mcginnis and Ferrarin had kept the Mansfield frontline very quiet.

The Blues turned the game within 3 minutes of the restart. A Paul Ivey shot was blocked overhead height and from the resulting free kick Paul Ivey calmly finished to the keeper’s left-hand side. Within a minute it was 2-0 when Shand collected a defence splitting pass from Franco Ferrarin, turned and drove beyond the keeper. Paul Ivey then finished from 14 yards soon after to put the blues on easy street. Mansfield did pull a goal back from range to make it 3-1, and Stuart Avery saved brilliantly from a free kick as the visitors threw everything at a comeback. Julian Fox calmly slotted home following an Ivey through ball before Paul Wilmott added a fifth with the goal of the game, turning inside and curling the ball into the far corner with his left foot.

Final score Birmingham 5 -1 Mansfield.

Team- Stuart Avery, Franco Ferrarin, Gaz McGinnis, Prit Briah, Paul Ivey, Neil Shand, Julian Fox, Paul Wilmott, Simon Dyer.