Photos (Top to Bottom): Matthew Sly shoots for goal; Lino Taglieri (right) holds off an opponent; Kim Dae Won (left) battles with Jon Merry
________________________________________
CHRISTIAN UNITED 3-7 UNIVERSITY
_____________________________________

University had control of this match for the 90 minutes, but they still made enough defensive blunders to allow veteran Matthew Sly to notch a hat-trick for Christian United.

Christian goalkeeper Scott Nicholson must have been disappointed with his performance as his errors presented University with some easy goals.

Charles Cropp gave University the lead in the 4th minute after Nicholson was left stranded outside his area.

Sly headed the equaliser at the far post in the 7th minute from Kim Dae Won’s perfectly placed corner.

Dae Won showed touches of his former self, when he played in the Korean national league and in the NSL. He is in his 40s now and the speed is gone, but the thinking and vision are still there, as are the deft touches.

Lino Taglieri was another former top-flight performer on view for Christian United and but for his presence, and that of Tim Wierenga and Dave Noble, Christian might have conceded more goals.

James Wilkinson restored University’s lead in the 10th minute when he caught Nicholson way off his line and lobbed the ball over the keeper and into the net.

Ben Hewson made it 3-1 on the half-hour when he slid the ball past Nicholson and into the net.

Christian held their own for much of the second half, but with 15 minutes remaining, Hugh Burgess took advantage of a sloppy clearance by Nicholson to volley the ball first time straight back and into the net to give University a 4-1 lead.

Julian Proud added University’s fifth after Christian failed to clear a corner, and Wilkinson grabbed his second and University’s sixth after a sloppy goal-kick.

Seven minutes from the end, Proud fouled Sly inside the box and Sly took the penalty himself and netted to make it 6-2.

Five minutes later, a misunderstanding between Jon Merry and goalkeeper Rory McCallum enabled Sly to cleverly hook the ball into an empty net to complete his hat-trick.

In the final minute, Alexis Bull slipped the ball through for Merry to run at goal and calmly slot the ball home and make it 7-3.

Not exactly Real Madrid versus Eintracht Frankfurt (for the youngsters out there, that was the score-line-line when these teams met in the 1960 European Cup Final at Hampden Park, Glasgow, in one of the greatest games of football ever played), but entertaining enough on a decent Sherburd Park pitch.

University will have to improve considerably to progress beyond the next round.

______________________________________________________

Christian United: Nicholson; T Wierenga, De Hooy, Noble, Taglieri, Sly, Dae Won, Lumago, Arnold, Page, Van Sant (Substitutes: Golo, Verdouw, Dixon, Crombie)

Goals: Sly 7, 83 pen, 88

University: McCallum; Cropp, Green, Bull, Burgess, Eilkinson, Merry, Fletcher, Hewson, Proud, M Andrews (Substitutes: Ferguson, Blundell)

Goals: Cropp 4, Wilkinson 10, 81, Hewson 30, Burgess 75, Proud 79, Merry 90

HT: 1-3

Ref: A Cocker (Burnie)