Congratulations to the young Development squad and Managers Paul Bennett and Duncan Welsby. The Academy are very proud of these players as they only met each other 6 months ago and after a lot of hard work on the training ground the youngest �Blue Bloods' reach their first Cup Final.
In tricky conditions with a swirling wind that wasn't conducive to good football the �Blue Bloods' battled hard against an equally hard working Waterloo team. The Development started the better of the sides and piled on the early pressure with a great work-rate from the midfield-four as SEGNA went close with shots from distance. Waterloo came back into the game but Callum HILL in goal looked in commanding form and was quick with his distribution to start the Bridge counter-attacks. It was from one of these counter-attacks where the �Blue Bloods' won a corner. From the resulting corner and after a big scramble in the area the ball landed at the feet of Peter CALLOW who made no mistake firing home low and hard. At 1-0 up and with the wind at their backs the Bridge went 2-0 up after a sharp move down the right hand side with fast moving inter-link passing as Sam PATTERSON worked the ball out wide to Adam MASSEY who placed a neat pass into the area to Kevin LETTANY who with his back to goal, gave a deft touch and clever lay-back Joe SAN JOSE who smashed the ball into the goal. After more pressure and now commanding the game the �Blue Bloods' went 3-0 with a clever free-kick by Nick SOUPINIOUS found the run of SAN JOSE for a strong header to put the Blues into a good lead 3-0 at half time.
The start of the second-half was completely different as Waterloo dug in and looked to fight back with an excellent team-spirit. Waterloo began to dominate the midfield area and a couple of shots on goal went close as Waterloo turned the screw. HILL in goal had to be at his best as a couple of reflex saves kept Waterloo at bay. It was against the run of play where the Blues should have sealed the game as Kevin LETTANY jinked past a couple of Waterloo players and into the area only to be fouled and a penalty was awarded. LETTANY himself stepped up to take the penalty but Malcolm Waterloo Keeper saved to keep his side in the game. Back came Waterloo with their �never-say-die' attitude which was a great credit to them. However, the Bridge Boy's are made of sterner stuff and the back four led by Danny RATCLIFFE and Fraser STELFOX were outstanding as they battled and cleared their lines superbly. Milan STARKIE came on and bolstered the midfield as Waterloo came back yet again. Young Boris BOUABRE entered the fray but was unlucky when he got injured after 10 minutes in the game.
Waterloo carried on piling on the pressure trying to get back into the game and only good saves from Hill and the posts came to the rescue as the �Blue Bloods' dug in and stayed resilient to see off a spirited Waterloo and reach their first Cup Final.
