The first midweek County Cup of the season saw both teams come out of the blocks rather quickly, but it would be a messy first few minutes with each of the two sides trying to stamp their authority on the game, yet neither would have an obvious goalscoring opportunity in the opening ten minutes. 

Metropolitan Police were beginning to build some momentum and had a chance to go ahead as Jamal Sharpe tested Chipstead ‘keeper Finnley Davenport would get down to his left well to parry away and keep the scores level. 

Continuing to grow into the game, Met Police’s Daniel Amouh-Agyemang would win a free-kick in a very dangerous position after being brought down by Billy Fox who was in turn shown a yellow card.  Harvey Ball would whip in a dangerous ball right onto Igor Souza’s head and the midfielder’s header would have too much power on it for Davenport to put his side one ahead in the 20th minute. 

After the goal, the game continued how it started with both teams attacking the opposition third, some fine defending from both sides wouldn’t allow either a clear-cut chance though. That was until Davenport was once again called into action, with a fine save to deny a well-struck Daghan Baseranoglu volley. Chipstead were well in the game but were failing to find that final ball to either of their strikers. 

The opposite could be said about the Met though, who continued to threaten the opposition defence. A slight mix-up at the back would see Souza pick up the ball in the box and he’d once again find the back of the net, somewhat helped by a deflection but his side were now two goals to the good five minutes before half-time. 

Chipstead would start the second half fast and Naquarm Clarke-Douglas looked to be through on goal just two minutes in, however a great last man tackle from Charles Fox would stop the attack. The Chips would continue to keep the pressure high, this time Nicholas Lee finding himself through on goal, but his strike would be smartly saved by Joseph Hill in the Met Police net. Minutes later Hill would be forced into a save again this time with a more routine catch from an ambitious effort from Jayden Elliott.  

Despite their pressure, Chipstead couldn’t find the goal to get themselves back in the game and Met Police would make them pay for that. A sliced backpass in the 67th minute would fall straight into the path of Jamal Sharpe who would make no mistake when through on goal to further stamp the Met’s authority on the game.  

With 15 minutes to go, Sharpe was through on goal again, but his effort was tame and comfortably dealt with by Davenport. Chipstead began to start sending more men forward to try and kickstart a late fightback but couldn’t break down the strong opposition defence. Met Police did however seem fairly content with just seeing the game out and they’d do just that, preserving their clean sheet on the way to winning the Thorpe Park U18 Midweek Floodlit Cup. 

Goals (Metropolitan Police) - Souza (20,40), Sharpe (67) 

POTM - Igor Souza (Metropolitan Police) 

Attendance - 363 

Match Officials: 
Referee: Eros Frangiamore 
Assistant Referee: Ben Frape 
Assistant Referee: Dean Harrison 
Fourth Official: Stephen Matthews 

Chipstead FC: Finnley Davenport, Billy Fox, Robbie Spain (c), Karim Tidjani, Marcus Mountain, Josiah Appah, Jafari Lanquedoc, Travas Feneley, Naquarm Clarke-Douglas, Nicholas Lee, Reuben Ashun-Jojo, Alfie Finch, Teddy Cook, Ramese Angoua, Jayden Elliott, Christopher Bull, Levi Palm, Oscar Peglar, Ben Mills 

Metropolitan Police: Joseph Hill, Murray Samuel, Kieron Lambert, Harvey Ball, Charles Fox, Joshua Bassey, Luc-Marcus Bird, Igor Souza (c), Hugo Hill, Daghan Baseranoglu, Daniel Amouh-Agyemang, Jamal Sharpe, Mattao Bouget-Kotlar, Seumas Brown, Sam Neill, Rene Nicholson, Kassa Campbell, Rory Davidson 

Images of the game can be viewed and purchased by following the link below.

MATCH GALLERY