Here is a report from Kaje, one of our Admins on the forum. He is related to Luke Hubbins. I asked him to clarify how, and he said “I think he is our third cousin. He’s basically my mom’s cousin’s son.”

———————————————————————————————————————-

A relatively mild spring evening saw a crowd of almost 2,500 settle into the Tilton Road stand to watch the future Blues starlets attempt to secure a place in the Semi-Finals of the F.A. Youth Cup for the first time since 1985.

Although the game started in a lively fashion, Luke Hubbins let his enthusiasm bubble over a little too much as he was booked for late tackle on Watford’s Kurtney Brooks after just three minutes. Whilst the referee was in a good position to see the tackle, it did look as if Hubbins had taken the ball before the man.

Luke later found himself on the receiving end of a tackle by Cole Penny, who was booked for his efforts.

With the bookings out of the way, and both sides calming down somewhat Watford striker Marvin Sordell took the first clear chance of the game. The ball was lost deep in enemy territory by Blues who then had to track back as Watford broke quickly down the left flank before crossing the ball into the box. Sordell took a superb strike but Blues number one Dean Lyness managed to palm the shot away.

This seemed to wake Blues up a little bit and from there on they didn’t look like they would concede. Mid way through the first half, Jake Jervis looked as if he would open the scoring with a shot in the six yard box but he saw it covered well by Watford keeper Jonathan North.

A long range effort from Mich McPike and a shot by Jamie Sheldon, both for Blues, couldn’t find the target with the former glancing over the bar and the latter being cleared off the line by Hornets defender Louis Lavers. Thus the half ended with neither side having broken the deadlock and both sides looking increasingly frustrated.

Blues made no changes for the second half, but Watford replaced Chez Isaac with Andy Yiadom.

The match was fairly contained in the centre of the park, with neither side finding much of an outlet. Both sides looked spritely with much of the play being focused down the flanks. Ashley Sammons won much of the central midfield battle for Blues with Luke Hubbins putting in a fine performance on the right flank attempting to drive forward.

Ten minutes into the second half, Watford had another clean chance. A cross found its way into the Blues area and Sordell tried a cheeky back-heel which was well collected by Lyness. A quick throw out meant that Blues could hit Watford on the break, which resulted in Jake Jervis attempting an overhead kick inside the Watford box which North
plucked out of the air without much effort.

Sordell was undoubtedly Watford’s main thread. The heavy set, yet pacey number 9 put in a number of shots that were close to finding their mark, but Lyness or physics always saw them wide.

Blues came close on a number of occasions after that, with great strikes by Gradwell, Jervis and Hubbins with Ashley Sammons the creator on more than one occasion.

With the match drawing to a close, and the announcer signalling that the game could go into extra time, Blues seemed to pick up the pace and Watford were left looking shaky. Superb throughball was played from the centre of the park which sliced through the Watford defence, Luke Hubbins drew upon his explosive pace to beat his man and with just the Watford keeper North in his way, he took his chance, finding the net with less than 4 minutes to go.

Not a single member of the Blues team failed to celebrate, with Watford looking down and out. Blues put in some superb defending for the last few minutes of the game before the final whistle saw Blues celebrate as a team, whilst the Watford boys fell to their knees in despair.

Whilst the F.A. Youth Cup means little to many, to the boys out on the pitch last night it meant the world. The Blues now host Liverpool in the first leg of a two leg semi-final with dates yet to be confirmed.