St Michaels F C 1 Barnehurst 1 aet ( Barnehurst won on penalties)
Betts Cup Final
St Michaels turned up for their 2nd Cup Final in 2 years once again as underdogs against a team that were currently top of the Premier |Division. Despite this confidence was high and if they could show the same form as they did in the semi final then this could be a very tight game.
The game started with the bulk of the spectators supporting St Michaels and cheering them on to hopefully pick up their 1st trophy of the season. This support was shocked when after only 5 minutes Sam Meade was adjudged to push a Barnehurst forward in the box and a penalty was given. Barnehurst calmly converted to open the scoring. This was a soft penalty given by the referee that now put St Michaels on the back foot.
5 minutes later the referee once again was against St Michaels when he missed a blatant handball in the box which would have given St Michaels a chance to equalise from the spot. The remainder of the 1st half was even with the officious referee handing out yellow cards to Ryan Nibbs, Adam Fahy and a Barnehurst player as well as reducing Barnehurst to 10 men with a red card for a crude challenge on Adam Fahy.
The 2nd half started with St Michaels pushing for the equaliser against the 10 men of Barnehurst who were using their experience to deny this. On 65 minutes Kevin Pinner replaced Danny Baptiste. 2 minutes later the referee gave Sam Meade and a Barnehurst player yellow cards for an off the ball incident. On 75 minutes St Michaels got the goal their efforts deserved when a great shot from Kevin Pinner found the net to bring the scores level at 1 – 1. The referee had not finished with his cards and with 10 minutes remaining Arran Amer found his name in the book. With 4 minutes to go to the end of normal time Kevin Pinner saw his free kick well tipped over by the Barnehurst keeper to send the game into extra time.
Extra time came and went with very little incident other than Harry Smart replacing James Mckerrell with 10 minutes left. The game finished 1 – 1 and went to the lottery that is a penalty shoot out. St Michaels having missed numerous penalties during the season were hoping that this would change but after seeing Stuart Bird miss their 1st penalty and Kevin Pinner, Adam Fahy and Tom Pexton converting, Barnehurst proceeded to score all five penalties and the trophy was theirs.
A great effort by St Michaels who were disappointed that they could make the extra man tell and go on and win the Cup not helped by an over zealous referee who in parts ruined the game. Special mentions for Sam Meade and James Mckerrell who were superb in defence and Ryan Nibbs and Dan Tarrant who did not stop running in midfield. Man of the Match however goes to Harry Graham who was faultless in goal and even got his hand to two of the penalties.
