Great Harwood Town under 16s 0 Blackburn United under 16s 5 GREAT Harwood Town picked a bad day to field an under strength team - especially with Mohamed Javed in this form.
For they came up against a Blackburn United side that finally found the form that earned them runners-up spot last season.
And Mo was on fire!
Town could only muster up 10 players but the way Javed was playing they could have done with 12 boys on the pitch!
Javed ran the show from midfield and his fancy flicks and quick turns defied the heavy pitch.
The only thing he didn't do was score, but he made two and created countless other openings.
However it could have been a different story - especially if Town had their 11 best players on show.
They nearly took the lead within a minute. Danny Cawtherley nipped in between two defenders and slotted the ball through to Neil Cannings whose close range shot was superbly saved by Zaubir Patel.
However it was Patel's opposite number Chris Jackson who was the busiest of the keepers. And despite a brave save to deny Zuber Ibrahim he could do nothing to stop William Sharples hammering home the lose ball to open the scoring.
Jackson then denied Azeem Hapeji and Rashid Rawat before Ismail Mulla hit a post. But Town did have their moments in the first half. The tireless Ryan Jennings was always a threat while Stuart Bainbridge was unlucky with a 25-yard effort that went straight at the keeper.
However Javed was revelling in the extra space and he created the second goal when his shot from the edge of the area hammered against the post and Rawat roll the loose ball into the net.
Number three soon followed and Sharples gratefully received his second of the day after good work from Hapeji.
By now Town knew they had to try and hang on until half time and hope that reinforcements would arrive.
And they nearly pulled one back when Phil Long sent Cannings through in on goal but he snapped at his shot and it went wide. Then Patel was forced into action to deny Long after good work from Jennings.
But the half ended with an excellent run by Javed who set off from his own penalty area and was only denied a goal by another good save by Jackson.
After the break, Town had a lot more of the play and Jennings was proving to be a real handful for Mubasher Hussain and Hapeji down the left hand side.
And reinforcements finally arrive when full back Rob Moorhead trotted on to the pitch.
But Javed again was the man of the moment and it was his excellent ball that released Rawat who steamed in on goal to beat Jackson.
The game was beyond Town now but they never gave up the battle.
They nearly capitalised when United's keeper went walkabout but Jennings' chip was headed off the line by Hussain.
Cannings then fired wide when he had loads of time and Long had a shot saved by Patel.
But just when it looked like Town were going to get the goal they deserved, Blackburn broke away and substitute Suhayl Ismail scored after Rawat hit the crossbar. GREAT HARWOOD TOWN: Chris Jackson, Stuart Bainbridge, Sam Connell, Mark Clucas, Danny Cawtherley, Neil Cannings, Phil Long, Ryan Jennings, Steve Adams, Rob Moorhead and Lyndon Wood. BLACKBURN UNITED: Zaubir Patel, Kasim Iqbal, Mubasher Hussain, Stuart Grant, Faizal Patel, Mohamed Javed, Azeem Hapeji, Ismail Mulla, Rashid Rawat, William Sharples and Zuber Ibrahim. Subs: Adnan Shah, Abdul Lincoln, Lee Grundy, Jonathan Dean, Suhayl Ismail and Faizal Javed.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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