Huntsman travelled to the Education Village Darlington to take on high flying Highland Laddie from the league above in the first round of the Munden Memorial Cup on Sunday and came away with an impressive 5-4 victory a scoreline which doesn’t do the Huntsman dominance justice.
Huntsman started the game on the front foot knocking the ball around well and they were rewarded 10 minutes in when Shaun Sproates was fouled in the box for a penalty which leading scorer Jamie Herd slammed home sending the keeper the wrong way. Laddie had a spell of pressure with lots of long balls into the box, a low shot forced a smart stop by Dodds low down to his right but from the resulting corner the ball bounced around before being poked home for 1-1.
Huntsman got straight back on the front foot and made it 2-1, Stuart Ord picked the ball up deep in the Huntsman half and went marauding up field skipping past 5 players as the pitch opened up for him before he played a delightful ball into Shaun Sproates who committed the centre half into a tackle bringing down Sproates for another stone wall penalty, Herd again stepped up from 12 yards to arrow the ball into the top corner. They went in 2-1 up at half time with a deserving lead. They started the second in a bright style and added a third not long after the restart, Sproates and Herd worked a short corner before the angle opened up for Herd to drive a fierce shot in the bottom corner to complete a 4th hat trick of the season.  A 4th goal followed shortly after Steven Williams went rampaging down the left wing but looked to have lost the ball but showed great determination to win it back forcing a good save from the keeper before Carl Bates was on hand to poke home giving the Huntsman an impressive 4-1 lead.
Shaun Sproates back to something like his best form got a goal his all-round link up play deserved when he steered home a left wing ball into the top corner. They then however took their foot of the pedal and let the Laddie back into the game and they forced Dodds to turn over the bar from a fierce strike, but they weren’t to be denied when the low corner was turned home at the near post. That gave the Laddie confidence and they got a 3rd with 10 minutes remaining a deep free kick was pumped into the box which Dodds spilled into the path of the oncoming centre half who bundled the ball home. A few minutes later they added a 4th to get the nerves jangling but they held out for an impressive victory which was slightly soured by the sloppy finish.
Next up is the Wheatsheaf in the league at Simpasture on April 20th a 10.30 kick off where they will be looking to put the pressure on the top two with a third successive victory. Get yourself along and show your support.