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Old Malton cup aces
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| Goal mouth scramble in the game between Poppleton (gold) and Old Malton (blue) at Tockwith |
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York & District FA Senior Cup Final:
Old Malton St Mary's 2, Poppleton United 1
OLD Malton wrapped up their season in style by lifting the York and District FA Senior Cup with a narrow win over Poppleton United at Tockwith.
Old Malton's strong finish to the season saw them claim third place in the Leeper Hare York and District league premier division and were hot favourites to take the prestigious trophy back to Ryedale.
Their odds were slashed even further when they made a dream start, snatching a third minute when Rob Thackray's long goal kick was flicked into the path of Dave Bell by Ryan Cooper and once the league's leading goalscorer got past his man the outcome was inevitable - a thumping shot from just inside the area going past the keeper in a flash. Poppleton, who have just been promoted from division one, tested Thackray straight from the kick-off, the young keeper saving low to his right from 25 yards.
Thackray was beaten in the fourth minute, but as the ball rolled towards the line full-back Jamie Shepherd made up ground to clear the danger.
The underdogs were now into their stride, giving the Old Malton defence a torrid time as the post came to their rescue when a wind-assisted cross deceived everyone.
But despite having the lion's share of possession, Poppleton couldn't break through an overworked Old Malton defence and star midfielder Sarjo Cham ripped a cracking shot over the bar, quickly followed by a similar effort from the left foot of Rob Pindar that brought a great save out of the Poppleton keeper.
A patient build-up on the half-hour mark saw Old Malton grab a two-goal advantage just before the half-hour mark. Shepherd played the ball into Neil Wilford who turned inside his man to get his shot away from 12 yards. And when the ball broke free from the keeper's grasp, Ryan Cooper pounced from six yards to slot the ball home.
Poppleton came back again with another good spell of pressure, Thackray tipping over from distance before Callum Scott made a timely tackle.
Old Malton almost made it 3-0 when a headed clearance from a Pindar cross fell to Bell who hit a tremendous volley from just outside the area. With goal number 40 for the season written all over it, Poppleton keeper Dave Bailey produced a wonder save to push the shot round his left-hand post.
The second half started badly for Old Malton when Ryan McGinty had to be replaced on 51 minutes. Nicky Cass joined the action at centre-back with Dean Readman joining Cooper in midfield.
As Old Malton took time to reorganise Poppleton had another good spell, but good handling by Thackray took care of matters.
Bell was in his stride on 61 minutes with two surging runs in quick succession, both having the Poppleton defence at sixes and sevens. Wilford's lay-off since mid-March began to take its toll and he was replaced by Towse on 67 minutes.
Slight hesitation by young right-back Scott moments later gave Poppleton the chance they'd been working hard for all afternoon. Pressure saw Scott lose possession 30 yards from goal, allowing Paul Ryan to break away and finish in style.
The game was now end to end as it entered the last 10 minutes. Cham and Bell released Towse who jinked past two men to deliver a wicked cross that the Poppleton defence couldn't deal with, a headed clearance being directed past the keeper and inches over the crossbar.
Two minutes later an even better break involving Towse, Readman and Bell gifted Cham a glorious chance on the edge of the area, but the normally clinical wide-man fired high over the bar.
The game still had time to serve another twist when a strong break down Old Malton's left saw the ball dragged back into the path of Poppleton midfielder Craig Theaker whose first-time effort crashed back off Thackray's crossbar.
That was to be Poppleton's last chance as Old Malton safely negotiated the three minutes of stoppage time to take the Faber Trophy.
12:02pm Wednesday 7th May 2008
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