Kent Junior C Cup Final
Gallagher Stadium, Maidstone
Admission: £7.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance: 200 (estimate)
Once again, my original plans for today were thwarted, when industrial action in the form of an overtime ban meant that there were no trains on my local line today. And so I had little option but to drive, and not fancying driving too far, I headed for the Maidstone area to take in a couple of cup finals, starting off with this game handily arranged with a 11am kick off, for my second visit to the Gallagher Stadium on conseuctive Saturdays.
This cup competition is the lowest level county cup competition for grassroots clubs run by the Kent FA, and paired together clubs from parallel leagues. Woodnesborough Reserves were in seventh place in the eight club Canterbury & District League Premier Division, following two wins and two draws from their 12 league games. Bocca Juniors were having a much better season in the Ashford & District League Premier Division, in their first ever season following their formation last summer, and were in third place, following 19 wins and three draws from 25 league games, and a point in their final game next Saturday would secure a runners up spot. To reach today's final, Woodnesborough Reserves received a bye in Rounds 1 and 3, and a walkover in Round 2, before winning on penalties away at Beechwood 76, beating Eccles Reserves 2-1 at home, and latterly Stockbury Athletic 2-4 away. Bocca Juniors also received byes in Rounds 1 and 3, but defeated Roselands 0-7 away in Round 2, Anchorians 0-7 away in Round 4, and then Little Sharsted 3-2 at home in the quarter final, and then Kemsing United 4-0 at home.
On a warm and sunny morning, Bocca Juniors made an excellent start to this game, on the front foot and almost completely dominating the first half, and they could have been out of sight by the time half time arrived. They took the lead in the third minute, when a looping cross from the left was headed home by Alfie Prior, and after forcing a couple of smart saves, they doubled their lead on 21 minutes, when the ball was slipped through the Woodnesborough defence for Prior to run onto into the penalty area, and he showed excellent composure to side step the keeper before slotting the ball into the empty net. They had several other excellent chances to further increase their lead, including one effort deflected onto the woodwork, and Woodnesborough could be thankful to their keeper for keeping his side in the game at the interval, albeit two goals in arrears.
Woodnesborough were much improved after the break, and had a great chance to pull a goal back within a minute of the restart, when a free kick was crossed into the box, just evading the head of one player, and another player at the back could only tap the ball wide on the stretch. But they did halve the deficit on 56 minutes following a quick throw in, and Robson Hulks ran through on goal before slotting the ball past the keeper. The game reall could have gone either way for the remainder of the game, both sides having decent chances, and Woodnesborough saw an effort cleared off the line three minutes into added on time, but Bocca Juniors held on to lift the cup on the pitch shortly after the final whistle.
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