Metropolitan Police boss Jim Cooper slammed the lacklustre attitude of his players in their 3-0 over Egham Town in the Surrey Senior Cup, writes Tom Ambrose.

A brace from Steve Noakes put the Blues in control before David Knight secured progress into the fourth round, where they face Leatherhead or Lingfield.

But despite the scoreline, Cooper was critical of his players’ overall performance.

He said: “I was very disappointed with the way we played.

“The boys took it far too leisurely tonight and that’s not in the spirit of what we’ve been doing recently.

“The attitude was pretty poor, it was as though they thought the game was already won.”

Met had started brightly and found themselves ahead after nine minutes when Noakes was on hand to follow-up after Billy Crook’s effort was saved.

Noakes again found himself in the right place on 34 minutes when Boyle’s corner sat kindly and the full-back forced the ball home.

The right-sided duo continued to trouble Egham after the break as Crook glanced his header onto the bar from Noakes’ cross.

This sprung the visitors into life but for all their endeavour, Egham lacked a clinical finisher to make the most of their chances.

First Jamie Read saw his low effort saved well by Jamie Butler, then Jacob Lambe could only test the reflexes of the Blues keeper.

With fifteen minutes left on the clock, Read spurned a golden opportunity from close range to spark a grandstand finish, but, moments later, Knight’s bundled winner sealed progress for the Met.

The Blues have never tasted Surrey Senior Cup glory but came close six years ago, losing to Tooting & Mitcham 4-1 after extra-time.

Cooper reckons that experience can motivate his squad in a cup that has otherwise evaded them and not prove a distraction from the league.

He added: “It’s a prestigious competition and one we want to win.

“It gives us more games to look forward to and winning does become a habit.

“The boys feel the same as me in that I’d much rather play a game in midweek than have two training sessions.”


Metropolitan Police: Butler, Noakes, Sutherland (O’Shea 82), Tyrell, Bourne, Crook, Hughes (Bennetts 68), Smith, Boyle, Tait, Knight. Unused subs: Smalley, Cefai, Newton

Egham Town: Borg, Chandler-Joseph, Ward, Rodrigues, Jacobs, Hedges, P. Craig (Coultas 78), Muldowney, Rossini, Lambe, Read. Unused subs: Taylor-Ives, L. Craig, Matthew