Trojans put Onions to the sword
Trojans ruthlessly sliced Onions apart at Goose Gosling Field yesterday to advance to the Friendship Trophy semi- finals without hardly breaking a sweat.Two goals apiece from strikers Tyrell Burgess and Jonathan Bean and another from midfielder Leo Burgess earned the West Enders sweet revenge for a recent league loss against their hosts who were outplayed in every department.Keston Lewis pulled one back in the 83rd minute for a lacklustre Onions side reduced to ten men minutes earlier after midfielder Sam Butler received his marching orders for a second bookable offence.Onions, who were forced to make three changes to their squad that beat Trojans 3-2 in a league match the previous week, had no answer to the West Enders’ superior movement on and off the ball, slick passing and alarming pace.Had they not been wasteful in front of the posts, Trojans could’ve easily won this cup tie by a wider margin.Ricardo Brangman Jr — making his first appearance between the uprights for his new club — had an uneventful afternoon as Onions rarely threatened to rattle Trojans’ cage.Onions showed tremendous character in the previous round, coming from three goals down late in the match to dump cup holders North Village Rams out of the competition. However, there would be not dramatic comeback yesterday as Trojans jumped out to an early lead and kept their foot on their hosts’ throat the rest of the way.“In their last game against Village they came back from 3-0 down so despite us going up by three goals we wanted to stay focused and keep going at them,” said Trojans skipper Trevin Ming, who had produced another solid display at the heart of his team’s defence.Trojans played some fluent, attacking football despite making four changes to the team that lost to Onions in their previous encounter.“We made four major changes with a mixture of experience and youth and when we had a big lead we were able to put more youth players on to give them some exposure which was good,” added Ming.The Trojans skipper was delighted to see striker Bean put an end to a goal drought.“It’s really good to see Jonathan on the scoresheet because he gives us 110 percent every game, so it’s good to see him rewarded for once,” he said.Trojans’ emphatic win swept them into the last four of the competition for the second straight season.“We are feeling good and everybody is in high spirits and hopefully we can keep playing good football and don’t take anybody for granted,” Ming said.Trojans took only two minutes to unlock the Onions defence after Bean latched onto a ball played over the top and planted his shot to the right of Onions ‘keeper Stephen Gould.Leo Burgess, who tormented Onions with his wizardry and pace all afternoon, doubled Trojans’ lead in the 24th minute after scrambling the ball across the goalline from close range.Tyrell Burgess then put the match further beyond Onions’ reach with a powerful header at the back post from a corner to give the visitors a 3-0 cushion at the half.Trojans kept the pressure on after the break, Bean grabbing his second in the 47th minute when he headed in another header from a set piece.Tyrell Burgess then completed his brace in the 65th minute with a calm finish at the near post following a good build up down the left side to make it 5-0.Onions were reduced to ten men in the 72nd minute when Butler received a second yellow card for a reckless tackle on Trojans sub Nacori Smith.But despite being a man down the home team managed to score a late consolation after Trojans keeper Brangman failed to gather a high punt, leaving Lewis with the simple task of rolling the ball into the empty net.Flanagan’s Onions: S Gould, P Matthews (L Osborne, 58 mins), J Donnelly, S Butler, S Upton (A White, 30 mins), J Knight, A Kelly, K Szmierek, B Amoro, K Lewis, J Fox (R Cumbers, 67 mins)Goals: K Lewis, 83rdRed card: Butler, 72ndSomerset Trojans: R Brangman Jr, J Rogers, J Harvey — Outerbridge, T Ming, I Mallory, A Trott (T Harvey, 72 mins), S Brangman, L Burgess, A Lambert (N Smith, 72 mins), T Burgess (A Burrows, 72 mins), J BeanGoals: J Bean 2 mins and 47 mins, T Burgess 27 mins and 65 mins, L Burgess 24 minsYellow card: T HarveyMan of the match: L Burgess (Trojans)Referee: M Wyer
