The recent Easter weekend saw the first silverware of the 2004-05 Uxella League season decided as a dramatic Dave Hobbs Cup Final was played out between First Division rivals Pig & Whistle and Railway Club in front of a 200-plus crowd of all ages at Bridgwater Sports & Social Club. Pig & Whistle took an early lead within the first five minutes but Railway equalised just before half time through veteran striker Bob Abrams. Despite plenty of endeavour from both sides, and thanks to some superb saves by both goalkeepers, the score remained one-a-piece at the end of normal time. In extra time Railway Club then waited until the very last minute before scoring a dramatic winner through 17-year-old Carl Tucker to seal their first trophy since their Geoff Harvey Cup win of 1998.
This Sunday saw Pig & Whistle's young Reserves side trying to reach a final of their own as they faced a similarly youthful Sportsman side in the second Semi-Final of this season's Geoff Harvey Cup. Despite taking an early lead through Jamie Evans, Pig Reserves were unable to match Sportsman's fluid midfield play and the home side soon equalised through Steve Davis to make it all square at the interval. Davis then converted a well-taken spot kick to give Sportsman a crucial advantage before further goals from Daryl Cock, Jordan Meaker and Andrew Skidmore sealed certain victory and a place in the final. Jamie Evans managed to strike a second consolation goal for Pig Reserves in the dying minutes of the game but the 5-2 victory ensures that it is Sportsman who will meet Tor Sports in next weekend's Geoff Harvey Final at Bridgwater Town's Fairfax Park, with kick-off at 10:30am. Please note that this is a change of venue from Bridgwater Sports and Social Club where Tiger Old Boys will be playing their Somerset County Cup Semi-Final that day.
Meanwhile, there was also plenty of action once again in the various divisions of the Uxella League. In the top flight Pig & Whistle faced none other than Railway Club, their conquerors from last week's closely contested Dave Hobbs Final. This time around it was a completely different story as Pig ran out with a comprehensive 7-1 victory thanks to a four-goal salvo from John Richardson and further strikes from Tony Cook, John Bawden and Darren Hill. John Richards bagged the consolation strike for Railway who were left to ponder that a week can be a long time in football as well as politics.
Uxella League leaders Tiger Old Boys continued their perfect league campaign with yet another victory after beating Clearwater 2-0 away thanks to a Paul Mear strike and a 45-yard screamer from Dave "Busby" Pople into the top right-hand corner, beating his colleague Kevin Hurd in the process.
Red Tile ran out comfortable 5-1 winners over Admirals Landing after a fifteen minute hat-trick from James Hamilton and further strikes from player-manager Andy Staunton and, directly from a corner, from Simon Bone.
In Division Two Vince Kennedy bagged a hat-trick of his own in Black Horse's 7-2 home win over Cannington. Andrew Barnett also weighed in with a couple of goals and Jason Clapp and Craig Watts completed the rout. Ben Dyer and Paul Ham responded for Cannington.
Tiger OB Reserves also racked up a magnificent seven, but without reply, as they ran out 7-0 home victors over Huntspill Crowns. The goals were shared around the team through Leighton Davies(2), Paul Irvine, Jamie Chillingworth, Huw Richards, Phil Coombes and Matthew Washer. Celebrations were marred at the end, however, when it was discovered that the changing rooms at Bridgwater Sports & Social Club had been broken into with numerous items and cash stolen from the personal belongings of the four teams in action at the venue that morning.
The other two sides to be victims of the theft were Flag Old Boys and Cross Rifles who had previously played out a thrilling encounter which eventually saw Cross Rifles win 6-3 after a hat-trick from Jason Stevenson, two from the prolific Lee Stentaford and a first league goal of the season from Phil Court, who usually reserves his goal-scoring efforts for cup matches. Lee White(2) and Mike Taylor responded for Flag.
The action in Division Three was more in keeping with an episode of "Holby City" as ambulance crews in the Glastonbury area found themselves unable to cope with a sudden surge in demand as two players suffered badly broken legs at roughly the same time in separate fixtures only miles apart, at Tor Leisure Centre and Meare respectively.
In the clash between Meare-based Countryman and local rivals Glastonbury Sundays the game was delayed for half an hour soon after kick-off when an early challenge saw Glastonbury's Paul Hamilton suffer an horrendous open fracture which required immediate hospitalisation. Despite this set-back Glastonbury went on to win the game 2-1 thanks to goals from Sam Vincent and Jason Lawford.
Meanwhile, only a few miles away a similar story was unfolding as again, only a few minutes after kick-off, Tor Sports' lone senior player and goal-scoring phenomenon, Joel Hopper, suffered a double fracture to his leg after coming off worse from a fifty-fifty challenge with the goalkeeper of visitors Puriton United. Hopper was also eventually removed from the scene by ambulance once one could be located. Tor were unable to emulate Glastonbury and go on to win the game, however. Despite scoring a couple of goals they eventually went down 2-5 to a resurgent Puriton side, for whom Will Beggs, Darryl Taylor and Dean Taylor all weighed in with superb efforts to keep their promotion challenge firmly on track.
(Story First Published: 03.04.05) |
