RILEY SMITH has backed Lynchpin to win the Hellenic Reserves Challenge Cup this season after a 1-0 win at Chalfont Wasps on Saturday.

Matthew Smith scored the only goal of the quarter-final tie at The Playing Field, and the reward is a semi-final away to Abingdon United on Tuesday, April 4 (7.45pm).

“I am pleased with the result and the fact that we’re through to the next round, but I can’t say that I’m pleased with the performance,” Lynchpin boss Smith told the Observer.

“It was probably the worse pitch I’ve seen in my football career, and both sides acknowledged it. There was only one option, to push the ball forward. You could not play down one side because the surface was not up to it.

“I’m pleased overall and their keeper was probably man of the match. They didn’t test our keeper and Matthew got the winner, which was nice to see.”

On the semi-finals, he said: “Abingdon are an unknown quantity for us. They’re on a par with us in the west side of the league.

Slough Observer:

PHOTO: Matthew Smith (maroon) scored for Lynchpin on Saturday.

“It’s a game we can look forward to and we can be prepared for it. I just hope we don’t get any injuries because we’ve got a bit of a fixture pile-up with key games coming up.”

On their cup chances, Smith added: "I would like to think we can win it. It would be nice to go on and win it. We've won in cup finals for the last three or four years."

Lynchpin return to action in Hellenic Division Two East with a trip to Stokenchurch this Saturday (3pm).

Smith commented: "It will be a hard one. Stokenchurch have been on a good run lately. They've beaten a few good sides quite well.

"We beat them quite comfortably before so it will be an interesting game.

"I just hope we've a big enough squad. We're missing players through work commitments more than injuries, but I'm hopeful."