Venue: Watnall Road Stadium, Hucknall, Nottinghamshire
Competition: CMFL Floodlit Cup Final
Referee: Richard Eley
Scorers:
Town - Gary Morton (90+2), Tomas Poole (90+3)
United - Sam Vickers (31 pen, 75), Nick Murray (82)
Line-ups
Clay Cross: Ben Townsend, William Harcourt, Ben Goodwin, Carl Vickers, Barry Alberry, Richard Matthews, Josh Fields, Tomas Poole, Aiden Ordidge, Ryan Booker, Gary Morton. Subs: Danny Taylor, Ryan Ordidge, Jake Tittley, Shane Burton, Lee Clay.
Belper: Scott Whittingham, Adam Moss, Joe Conkleton, Adam Robley, Scott Slater, Shaun Roulston, Gary Conway, Ash Dhindsa, Nick Murray, Louis Mundin, Sam Vickers. Subs: Jamie Sparkes, Tarik Harvey, Tom Curtis, Gerge Marshall, Mark Rathbone.
So, this time we have two teams from Derbyshire playing a cup final in Nottinghamshire - the League Cup final at the weekend was played between two Nottinghamshire clubs playing in Derbyshire. The teams only play three games to get to the final, as the competition is purely, as it's name implies, for clubs with floodlights.
We met up with Brian Dennett, Richard Lane, Pete Chappell, Maurice and Paul MacFarland inside the ground, but as you might expect, local interest was minimal and only just over 100 others bothered to turn out for this game. Mind you, it was a very cold evening for early May - rain was forecast but luckily we only had a short, sharp shower some 10 minutes into the first period.
The first incident of note came in the 15th minute - Shaun Roulston upending Tomas Poole as he bore down on goal. Referee Mr. Eley duly awarded a spot kick and booked Roulston for the foul. Poole stepped up to take the kick, but Scott Whittingham guessed the right way, diving to his right to save, and do us out of our 500th goal of the season!
Penalty, Ref!!!!!
Well saved, Whitto
With half an hour played, Belper were also awarded a penalty after Ben Townsend appeared to trip Nick Murray as he raced in on goal. SAM VICKERS made no mistake from 12 yards and the blog's 500th goal was chalked up. Kev got the spot kick on video as well. H-T 0-1
Penalty Ref!!!
Sam Vickers nets our 500th of the season!!
Clay Cross thought they have levelled on 62, but Barry Alberry was adjudged to have been in an offside position when he headed the ball into the net, after it had cannoned down off the bar. The poor old lino got some right stick for the decision, but if you are on the line when the ball is played in, with just the opposition keeper for company, you have to be offside - don't you?
On 75, SAM VICKERS added a second for Belper after he collected a long ball out of defence and side-stepped Townsend before rolling the ball into an empty net. Four minutes later Town ought have been reduced to 10 men after Gary Morton appeared to throw the ball at the Assistant Referee - he received only a yellow for his indiscretion, the only really poor decision made by Mr. Eley throughout the game.
Sam Vickers
NICK MURRAY grabbed a third for United three minutes later, latching onto a superb pass from Joe Conkleton before running into the area and slotting to the keeper's right. So, with the score at 3-0 the dreaded extra-time appeared to have been avoided - but no-one told Town as they grabbed a goal in the second minute of added time through GARY MORTON, then seconds later POOLE smashed home a second with the Belper defence in tatters. By now the cold wind was really biting - thankfully the Referee added only a further few seconds and Belper could celebrate being the winners of the 2014-15 Floodlit Cup. F-T 2-3
Admission: £4.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance: h/c 112
MOM: Scott Whittingham
Charity: £3.75
