The Wembley dream for Punjab United came to a sad end, after a frustrating FA Vase semi-final second leg defeat in front of a record crowd at the Steve Cook Stadium.

With the tie evenly poised at 1-1 after a tight first leg at Cockfosters, Punjab manager Chipie Sian would have hoped that home advantage in the return leg could see his side progress. Alas, as with the first leg, it was a game of few clear-cut chances, with the visitors again using set pieces, especially long throws to their advantage.

As the record 1200 plus crowd settled in, Punjab kicking down the slope, started brightly. An early Chris Edwards throw and subsequent cross into the box caused some panic in the Cockfosters back line before being hacked clear. Then a couple of minutes later, a Mitch Beeney free kick from deep inside his own half caught the wind and bounced awkwardly for Connor Sansom in the visitor’s goal. As the ball looked to be heading for the top corner, Sansom managed to get a hand to the ball to deflect it wide for a corner. The resulting corner from Ratcliff was easily claimed by the visiting keeper.

Another half chance immediately came soon after. From a long clearance downfield from Chris Edwards, Lee Bird who looked to have been given instructions to stay up field for any quick break from the attacking Cockfosters long throws, nearly latched onto the long ball but was denied by a late challenge from the backtracking defender.

The visitors, already deploying the aforementioned long throw ins to good effect, had their first serious attempt on 10 minutes, it took a great tackle from Bushell to block an incoming shot from Kendall Gymafi behind for a corner. From the resulting kick Cockfosters took the lead.

The corner was partly headed clear but fell to George Lutaaya on the right side of the penalty area. With his back to goal and tightly marked, he preceded to loop the ball over his head and beyond Beeney to nestle into the corner of the net.

Punjab continued to try and move the ball forward quickly to get back into the tie. But any long ball forward was countered by the strong Cockfosters back line. They did seem to get more joy from attempting to play down the wings. From one of these neat passing moves, Punjab won a corner, this created havoc within the 12-yard box, and from the resultant scramble, Cockfoster’s defender Teddy Stacey done well to block a goal bound effort on the back post.

The home side continued to use the slope to their advantage, as a long ball from Steve Ratcliff found Edwards breaking though the middle, but his shot went straight at the keeper.

It was Cockfosters however who had a golden opportunity to increase their lead. From a quick break, some neat passing saw Junior Mubiayi cross for Gymafi to head towards to bottom corner of the goal, only for Beeney to smartly get down and parry the ball against the post.

Back came Punjab, and just after the half hour, they were awarded a Free-kick 25 yards out. Edwards stepped up and his curling effort drew a great save from Sansom diving to his right.

As the opening half drew to a close, Punjab couldn’t create anything to seriously trouble the opposing defence. Whilst Cockfosters still deploying full back Matt Shaw for every long throw nearly caught Beeney out right on half time, but the Punjab keeper just recovered enough to divert the ball away for a corner.

The second half took quite a while to get going. Cockfosters seemed quite happy to play up to the ref in an attempt to slow the game down and win some soft set pieces. Punjab on the other hand were getting no joy at all from the well marshalled and tall Cockfosters defensive line.

With time running out Punjab boss Chipie Sian made four quick substitutions to try and change the game, but they were still unable to trouble the opponents back line.

Finally on 77 minutes, the match came to life. Following a good run from substitute Junior Moses for the visitors, he won a free kick on the edge of the box which he took himself. The kick headed for the top corner but was well held by Beeney. Then a great run from midfield by Bushell saw the Punjab captain’s long shot almost catching the visiting keeper out but he recovered well to hold onto the ball.

Alas five minutes from time, Cockforsters sealed their place at Wembley with a second goal. From yet another Shaw long throw from the right. The ball fell to Jandir Da Cruz, whose free header into the top of the net gave Beeney no chance.

With Punjab pressing forward in the final few minutes, they were susceptible to being caught on the break, and on one such occasion, a great through ball by Moses found Sotoyinbo, whose shot was well saved by Beeney. The match ended on a sour note for Punjab defender Jack Barry, as he was shown a straight red card deep into injury time following a 20-man fracas from a late lunge on Moses. The match ended soon after with Cockfosters winning 2-0 on the day, and 3-1 on aggregate.

In the end it was a disappointing result for the home faithful, and the dream of a Wembley final will have to wait for a least another year. However, most will feel proud of what Punjab have achieved in the 10 years since they moved into senior level football. With the SCEFL play-offs and the Kent Senior Trophy still to aim for, it could still end up being a successful season for Chipie and his team.

Punjab Utd – Beeney, Lewin-Thomas (Monger), Barry, W Bushell, Ratcliff (J Campbell), Hopkins, Edwards, Dawson (Singh), R Campbell, Byron (Ottaway), Bird (Scudder)

Cockfosters – Sansom, Shaw, Hastings, Stacey, Lovell, Da Cruz, Sotoyinbo, Gymafi (Holland), Mubiayi (Thomson), Ugbomah (Moses), Lutaaya (Offeh)

Unused Sub – Evans

Referee – Mr Blair

Attendance – 1209

Images courtesy of James Barnes