BLACKFIELD & Langley overcame the unexpected loss of ex-Saint Kevin Gibbens to reach the Russell Cotes Cup final with a 5-1 win at New Milton Town tonight.
Having planned set-pieces around Gibbens, manager John Robson got a 4.30pm call from the defender saying he couldn’t get away from work.
Robson improvised by partnering young Hugh Dathan with Nick Tayler in central defence and the pair were superb.
But the night belonged to hat-trick hero Jake Rowley who was joined on the scoresheet by Dan Munday and Dan Cann.
“I’m very pleased,” said Robson. “We were 2-0 up at half-time, came out second half thinking the job was done and New Milton scored. But we shook ourselves up and got at them.”
Blackfield will meet either Bemerton or the winners of the tie between Sholing and Horndean in the final.
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