Pinchbeck United Sunday begin their quest for county glory this weekend – and they couldn’t have asked for a tougher tie.
Tom Roberts’ side, who are bidding to become the first Spalding Sunday League side to win the Lincolnshire Sunday Cup, welcome the mighty Seven Seas AFC to Knight Street (10.30am).
The Grimsby-based side have won the competition in three of the last five years, but Pinchbeck player/boss Roberts – who led his side to league glory last term – isn’t fazed by Sunday’s showdown.
He said: “On paper, it’s the hardest tie we could have asked for.
“The only big positive is that we haven’t got to travel to their place.
“It’s a hard ask if I’m honest, but when it comes to this kind of game you have to be positive.
“People keep telling me that ‘to be the best, you have to beat the best’ – and I agree. If we want to win this cup, the chances are that we’d have to play them at some stage of it.
“As things stand, we’ll almost be as strong as possible. But all Sunday managers will tell you that they dread the text or call from a player that gets injured on the Saturday.”
Roberts should have an embarrassment of riches at his disposal at Knight Street. Well-known South Holland and UCL faces such as Josh Ford, Dan Woods, Andy Law, Ricky Drury, Nick Jackson and Luke Wilson are among those expected to feature.
Key men Jonny Fairweather and Adam Millson both miss out through injury, though.
Pinchbeck do come into the game in fine form after they won 4-1 at Murrow Bell last Sunday. Aidan Moore (2), Jonny Allen and Ford got their goals to make it four wins from as many league matches.
Elsewhere on the Sunday scene, Ryan Coddington scored twice as Punchbowl Panthers thrashed Mulberry 8-0.
Sean Cade, Ash Coddington, Danny Kingman, Sam Munton, Jamie Porter and James Thorold got the other goals.
In the John Chappell Shield, Billy King was on target as Brennans Sports won 2-0 at Jubilee.
Sutton Bridge Sunday also earned an impressive win in the Shield with a 5-1 home triumph over Punchbowl Tigers.
Matthew Eaton (2), Ben Partridge, Kris Butcher and Joe Sutton notched the Bridge goals, with Harry Wallace grabbing the Tigers’ consolation.
