The road to Wembley came to an abrupt halt for Radstock Town’s Under-18s last Tuesday evening, when they entertained Exeter City in the First Round of the FA Youth Cup. The game was the young miners’ fifth of the competition, having overcome Brislington, Taunton, Paulton Rovers and Woking to book a place in the first round proper for the first time in the club’s history.
A bumper crowd of 330 came out on a chilly November evening to see if Radstock’s Cup run could continue, only for that dream to rapidly turn into a nightmare. Radstock found themselves 1–0 down after five minutes, when Jack Sparkes was brought down in the box and young Grecians’ Captain, Max Smallcome, converted the penalty.
Exeter had two goals ruled out for offside, but their relentless pressure was soon rewarded with a further three first goals that effectively ended the match as a contest by half-time.
Radstock mounted a spirited start to the second half, which only seemed to inspire their opponents to take the game away from the young miners, with Archie Collins, Sparkes and Ben Seymour putting the visitors 7–0 up after only an hour. Yet Radstock rallied in a second half performance that was reminiscent of the club’s 2013 Somerset Cup encounter with Yeovil Town, where the Miners’ senior side mounted a brave rear guard action that shut out the full-time professionals for over half an hour. The young miners shrugged off their palpable disappointment to dig in for the final thirty minutes of the second half, only to be undone with a final goal on the stroke of full-time.
There could be little doubt that Radstock had finally met their match in a competition where their performances had won them so many admirers.
Ian Nockolds