|
|
Tuesday 7th September 2010
|
|
Matches played Tuesday 13th May 2008
Crown retain League Senior Cup while super finishing clinches Division 2 title for AFC Preston 2nds
After a week’s delay, the League Senior Cup final was able to go ahead on a beautiful Spring evening on the now dry and excellent surface at Dene Park, where Crown FC and Kingburn Athletic began the game in tentative fashion, as is usually the case when the stakes are high.
The game was expected to be a repeat of a recent league meeting between the sides, which had produced a pulsating encounter, but with both sides forced to make team changes to comply with the competition rules, this game lacked the key playmakers and moves continually floundered as the final pass was found to be wanting.
The game turned massively in Crown’s favour when midfielder Ryan McAllister picked up the ball around 30 yards from the Kingburn goal, and noticing keeper Ben Hamilton had advanced from his goal-line, struck the ball goalward. Whether the intention was to drive the ball into the goal or merely drop the ball into the area is a matter of conjecture, but McAllister was adamant later that the late bend he put on the ball was the key to surprising the keeper, and the resulting bulging of the net – to the delight of his team-mates and the appreciative supporters in the stand behind the goal.
Kingburn were unable to get into their stride, and Crown keeper Rich Davy was rarely troubled, and the halftime break arrived without further scoring.
The second goal was inevitably going to be crucial, and went Crown’s way, on the hour, when Rob Pearce’s snap shot was parried by keeper Hamilton but fell to Carl Heath as he followed in, and he nestled the ball firmly into the back of the net.
As the game progressed Kingburn were forced to take the gamble of throwing players forward, leaving gaps in defence, and in the final minute of the game, the advancing of keeper Hamilton to support his forwards, proved to be his sides final undoing as a quick break saw the ball land at the foot of Rob Pearce and he rolled the balling into an empty net from distance with the keeper stranded in no man’s land.
Although the goal had little or no bearing on the result, it did distort the competitive margin between the teams, but there was little doubt that Crown fully deserved to retain the trophy.
No doubt still on a high from this success, Crown faced Inter Charter in a re-arranged Premier Division match and while technically only pride was at stake, there was a matter of Charter completing the season with an unbeaten playing record – but they failed at the final hurdle, Crown recording a win by a 5-2 margin.
Over the entire season, the title race for Division 2 of the Amateur League always looked to rest between AFC Preston 2nd and Pinefleet Wolfreton Juniors and it was appropriate the last game of Preston’s season, and the penultimate game of Pinefleet should be a tense title decider.
Pinefleet signalled their intentions early on, going onto the attack, but worryingly, their defence looked suspect and it soon became apparent that Preston danger man Ricky McNee was being allowed too much room.
In many ways, Preston’s form has coincided with the form of top scorer McNee – early season runaway wins when he was scoring freely, followed by results ground out during a barren scoring period, and back on song for the vital run-in matches.
Fifteen minutes into the game, and McNee had scored twice to put Preston into the driving seat, the second goal amid claims for offside, totally dismissed by Referee Bill Pharoah.
Pinefleet gained a lifeline when an in-swinging corner found its way directly into the net, but Preston’s response was clinical, as McNee, 30 yards out from goal, suddenly struck the ball with such ferocity, that the Pinefleet keeper was able to do no more than watch the ball strike the back of the net. If ever a goal warranted to be a match winner – this was it!!
In the second period, Pinefleet had to come out and attack but the Preston defence in the shape of Jonny Galtrey and Adam Bottomley was rock solid, and Pinefleet’s attacks, many of which had been prompted by the silky skills of Andy Clark, floundered and the team lost much of its shape.
With a couple of minutes left on the referee’s watch, Preston rubbed salt into the wound when Kevin Senton added a fourth goal to seal the title race.
Had Pinefleet triumphed over Preston, then they had one final fixture left to negotiate against Swiss Cottage – but instead of being a crucial game, it merely completed the two sides fixtures.
Swiss Cottage rounded off their most successful season so far with a well-earned victory in a contest which was a spectacle for onlookers who witnessed fine performances from both teams, the difference between the sides being the pace of Ben Bassett up front for Swiss.
Bassett scored a hat trick of goals and a fine solo effort from Danny Wilson gave Swiss the three points. The game was not one sided, however, and it took some fine saves from Swiss goalkeeper John Scott to keep Pinefleet at bay for most of the game.
The score could have been even greater if the post had not stopped Ben Bassett from scoring on two other occasions. All in all a great season for the Swiss team.
The final whistle signalled a disappointing end to the campaign for Pinefleet, but the overall achievement and progress of the new side has to be viewed as encouraging.
|
|
Match Reports
|
24th April 2010
17th April 2010
10th April 2010
3rd April 2010
|
Personalise
|
Personalise
this website to feature the division which you're most interested
in.
|
|
