Overjoyed player/boss Matt Cawthorn paid tribute to his Long Sutton Athletic side after they upset rivals Sutton Bridge United 1-0 in the semi-final of the Spalding Inter Services Trophy on Saturday.
Cawthorn himself smashed home the only goal of the game at London Road on 45 minutes.
After Damien Ramm’s pass for Billy Oliver found its way to the striker in the box, he lashed the ball home to book a date with ChromaSport PDFL Division Two side – and indeed holders – Tydd St Mary in the final.
With Bridge outperforming Sutton in PDFL Division One, Cawthorn was delighted with the victory.
He said: “I’m over the moon with the result – but most of all the performanace. I’ve questioned the character of the squad in recent months but this proves we really have what it takes.
“All week everyone around us was trying to hype the game up on social media, etc, but I told the lads to play the game not the occasion.
“Credit goes to Sutton Bridge, the firepower they have in their squad is impressive and they pinned us back for 20 minutes as we took a while to settle.
“But once we got our passing game going Jake Narducci was finding space to create opportunities.
“There was also an outstanding performance from the back four, with little Luke Nicholson being named man of the match.
“Luke was superb, but the whole squad put a real shift in. The wide boys worked their socks off and the skipper, Billy Oliver, led by example. He has a tireless engine.
“Hopefully this will push us on now in the league and all of the players will want to try and put in good performances and impress to start in the final.
“On a personal note, special mention goes to Billy and Matt Oliver’s grandad Pete Oliver, who sadly passed away on Sunday morning.
“I’ve never known Pete to miss a game at Sutton, so that win against our rivals was for him.”
Sutton: Taylor, Ramm, Nicholson, Brandon, Bennett, Moses, Narducci, Melton, B Oliver, M Oliver, Cawthorn. Subs used: R Melton, Ward. Not used: Fitch, Taylor.
Sutton Bridge squad: Cooper, Eaton, Hook, Lally, Lilley, Murley, Osborn, Partridge, Scott, Smith, Sutton. Subs used: English, Fox, Wayman.
Saints gunning to defend crown after marching into final
Tydd St Mary got back to winning ways on Saturday with a fine 4-1 win over against Crowland Town Reserves in the Spalding Inter Services Trophy semi-final.
As holders, reaching the final and attempting to defend their crown was a massive deal for the village side.
The Saints were forced to move the venue to the Thomas Clarkson 3G pitch in Wisbech due to the poor condition of the home pitch for this match – but it didn’t seem to affect the home side.
Tydd started the stronger and threatened straight from the kick-off, with Ryan Jones flying down the right wing but his squared centre came to nothing.
The Saints settled into the game the better and were competing well all over the pitch.
They were rewarded on 28 minutes when a pin point pass from Max Burrell found Jordan Ainslie on the edge of the Crowland box to strike and score through a wicked deflection for 1-0.
Tydd intensified the pressure on the Town goal and were rewarded five minutes later when Jason Bradshaw, in goal for The Saints, gathered the ball and then cleared straight up front for Scott
Pemberton to latch on to. He still had lots to do, but deftly chipped home.
The second half began with Crowland applying the pressure to get back into the game, but they rarely threatened Bradshaw.
It was The Saints that hit them on the counter attack in the 72nd minute when Ainslie chased down a long ball to then square back into the penalty box for the in-form James Woods to sweep home the third.
Three minutes later Woods made it 4-0 when some good work down the left saw Max Burrell tee up his team-mate to slot home for his second of the game.
Crowland pulled a goal back with five minutes to go but the game was over as a contest at that point and the Saints marched into a final with Long Sutton Athletic.
