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Tuesday 7th September 2010
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Matches played Saturday 26th April 2008
Inter Charter clinch Premier title and Blackburn's take the League Junior Cup
On a Dene Park pitch which looked in excellent condition, and on a mild but breezy and sunny spring day, the first half of the Amateur League Junior Cup final between Blackburn Leisure and giant killers Swiss Cottage was dominated by Blackburn whose slick passing carved numerous forays into the Swiss half, but Blackburn’s finishing did not quite match their approach play, and for around half an hour, some staunch defending and also fine goalkeeping by Swiss keeper John Scott denied Blackburn any reward.
Following numerous set pieces and corners, the Swiss side finally succumbed to a Barry Loughlin goal, his 33rd, and perhaps most important success of the season.
Blackburn got forward at every opportunity and keeper Danny Parkinson, who was nursing previously broken fingers, was not troubled in the first half, although as half time approached Blackburn were struggling to get out of their half mainly due to the effects of the swirling wind.
At half time Blackburn were warned about the dangers of defending too high up the pitch knowing that Swiss were equipped with two pacey strikers in Ben Bassett and Shaun Scotthorne.
The warning, however, went unheeded and the Swiss pair penetrated the Blackburn back four and Shaun Scotthorne neatly finished the move.
This gave the Swiss side the impetus they needed, and they started to get forward more but they always appeared vulnerable at set pieces due to Blackburn’s aerial domination and from another set piece, the Brough side regain the lead when the ball crossed the goal-line from a Phil Ainley corner, and although it was touched by two defenders on the way, the Brough left winger still claimed the goal.
From then on it was a case of holding on for the victory, although last minute doubts could have been avoided if Chris Hunt, when Loughlin put him clean through, had not blazed his chance high and wide.
A fine overall performance by Hunt was only marred by his inability to finish and he would surely have been in with a shout for man of the match had it not been for the tireless work of Liam Bristow up front, who constantly hounded the Swiss back four into making mistakes.
A good game, competed in a fine spirit saw a deserved victory for the Brough side who collected their first trophy for 20 years, marking manager Rich Cain's first and last season in charge.
The continuing battle race for the Division 2 title between AFC Preston 2nd and Pinefleet Wolfreton Juniors continued apace with Preston facing a difficult fixture against a Hessle Sporting ‘C’ team who for a long time were in the title hunt themselves, and went into the clash as the ‘form’ team.
The Preston defensive line up was disrupted by the absence of Adam Butterley, and a changed back four took time to settle as Jonny Galtrey adapted to taking control of the defence.
Hessle came out the blocks quickly and looked sharp and threatening, but never really penetrated into Preston’s 18 yard box.
After 20 minutes, Ricky McNee broke through the Hessle offside trap and thrashed the ball home to give Preston an undeserved lead, and 15 minutes later it was the same again as McNee scored another goal against the run of play.
A disgruntled Hessle side then started to make mistakes, and this eased the pressure on Preston’s defence who were grateful for the breather which the half time break provided.
On the resumption of the game, Hessle were again pressing forward in search of the goal to get them back into contention, but their all out attack left them vulnerable in defence and Preston were hitting them on the break with considerable ease but vital chances for Ricky McNee, Pete Morton and Kevin Senton all went wide, but with ten minutes remaining McNee completed his hat-trick with a great strike which almost broke the net.
Pinefleet Juniors kept the contest bubbling when they claimed the points against AFC Piper, after trailing at the break, having fallen behind to a Chris Bennett goal, but three second half goals from the Clark family, two from Dad, Andy and one from son Louis, secured the spoils.
The Premier Division clash between Kingburn Athletic and Crown, a pre-cursor to the League Senior Cup final, proved to be a thrilling match, very sensibly controlled by referee Peter Godrey, which swung one way and then the other.
The remaining challenge to Inter Charter for the league title hinged on the result of the game, and Crown took an early lead and were looking confident, but Kingburn did not cave in, and fought hard to gain the initiative, having been gifted an equalising goal when Crown keeper Rich Davy failed to deal with a twenty yard shot from Marcus Robinson which seemed within his reach.
Buoyed by this lifeline, Kingburn’s belief in themselves was increasing, and they found themselves in front with a scrambled goal from Gary Shaw.
A response from Crown quickly brought the scores back level, after which chances were created at both ends of the pitch – but without further success.
Although a draw was a fair result to a titanic contest, the over-riding outcome from the game was that Inter Charter- without being in action – were confirmed as Premier Division Champions having maintained an unbeaten record.
Crown moved on to their weekend game against Pinefleet Wolfreton Reserves – Pinefleet’s last game of the season – and the game exploded into a goal fest with 11 goals shared.
The action all started in the very first minute when Crown opened the scoring with a shot from 25 yards, which gave keeper Gary Davies no chance. Crown dominated the early stages as Pinefleet, with only another bare eleven available, struggled to find their rhythm.
As the half progressed Pinefleet came into the game and went close to levelling on a couple of occasions. The equaliser finally came on the stroke of half time when Stuart Cook was brought down, and from the penalty spot Jon Paul Wright sent the keeper the wrong way.
Pinefleet scored again within a minute of the start of the second period when Gareth Monkman crashed home a shot from ten yards and the side hoped to push on from this, but instead were hit with a four goal salvo from Crown who took advantage of some very poor defending to storm into a three goal lead, the movement from Crown`s front men proving too much for the home defence.
A great free kick from Monkman narrowed the gap to 3-5 to give fresh hope to Pinefleet, but almost immediately Crown restored the three-goal advantage when they broke quickly and finished well.
That appeared to settle matters but two goals in the last eight minutes from Graham Waudby and another Wright penalty brought an amazing game to an end with the final score 6-5 in favour of Crown. Maybe winning the game was not quite the same as winning titles, but the game was hugely entertaining.
The League Senior Cup Final (Crown FC v Kingburn Athletic) was postponed on 30 April due to a waterlogged pitch at Dene Park, Dunswell, and will now be played on Wednesday 7 May 2008 at the same venue (7.30pm).
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Match Reports
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24th April 2010
17th April 2010
10th April 2010
3rd April 2010
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