Magpies Earn First Ever Birth into Cup Finals (07/05/2008 19:04)

Dorchester FC had been given the title of the home team at Cup Stadium for their semi-final against Of Per Zia by the random draw of the tournament. While the crowd was split down the middle pretty evenly, Dorchester FC showed how well it has played home games all year, 8-3-1 at the Park at Dorchester, as they defeated Of Per Zia 3-1 in front of 35,000 soccer fans. Dorchester FC took an early lead seven minutes in as Freddie Gamble received the Edgar Blackwell free kick and sent it into the back of the net. Team leading goal scorer Alfredo Rodriguez made it 2-0 in the 41st minute off of another excellent free kick by Edgar Blackwell. Blackwell got a hat trick of assists in the 48th minute of play, making a nice pass to rookie phenom Allen Page who sent the ball rocketing into the net giving Dorchester FC a 3-0 lead. Of Per Zia showed fight in the end as Felisberto Oliviera received a stunning pass from Francisco Jesus in the 74th minute and beat Tom Fogg to make it 3-1 Magpies. However, play was kept to the midfield for the rest of the game and Dorchester FC held on.

Manager T.K. Bomber loved the result but went on to say that he hopes it was not the given "home-field" that propelled the team to a win. "I know that today's win has given this team confidence that they can beat a team at the level of Of Per Zia twice in one year. I just hope that being the away team in the finals does not resonate at all with my players. In the cup it means absolutely nothing except that we wear different uniforms to the park. We need to be at the top of our game to win as this will be InSaNiTy's last game at division 5 and we don't want them leaving with the cup."

InSaNiTy has not yet clinched 1st place as it is six points ahead of Flying Snails with five games remaining on the schedule. However with only two draws and one loss this year, it looks highly unlikely that they will lose enough points to give them the chance to catch up. This game will be the last major test to see if Dorchester FC might contend for a division 4 berth next year, or be in a similar position as this year.