Staveley Miners Welfare 2 v Parkgate 0 - 2012 Teversal Tournament Final

Congratulations to Staveley Miners Welfare - Winners of the 2012 Teversal Tournament
Saturday 14th July, at Canarvon Street, Teversal

Teversal Tournament Final
Parkgate (0) 0
Staveley Miners Welfare (1) 2

Carl Vickers 36, James Whitefield 47

Admission £2, Free colour team sheet, cheers Mr Newton!

Attendance 78
And so, it came to pass, that after two weeks, of hard work, sweat, honest endeavour, good camaraderie in the company of fellow football obsessive anoraks, a hat full of show-boating spot kicks, a night of comedic penalty taking ineptitude of quite drastic proportions (I'm far too polite to elaborate on which night I am referring to at this juncture), an ever changing British climate ... and no small amount of first rate organisation and hospitality on the part of this most accommodating and visitor friendly football club; that Staveley Miners Welfare, of North East Derbyshire, won the honours on the final day and took the 'Kings of Teversal' crown from their South Yorkshire opponents Parkgate, the reigning champions, by beating them by two goals to nil, in an open, entertaining and evenly balanced final.
Earlier in the day, in front of a crowd of 810, Parkgate had gone down 6-0 at 'Roundwood' in a pre season friendly against a strong Rotherham United team, while the majority of Staveley's first team squad had played in a practice match, on one of those new fangled 3G pitches at Tapton School, against Hallam FC, which they won 4-3.
So this afternoon's game, saw two relatively young sides, with a sprinkling of experienced 'old hands' take each other on, which made for a better spectacle than a lopsided Under 19's v First Team one sided shoot in.
Parkgate had the first effort on goal, but Ollie Graham's goal-bound knock was hooked clear by Ashden Morley.
Staveley attacked next, but Ross Goodwin's angled shot flashed across the face of Parkgate's goal and wide of the far post.
As the game swung one way and then the other, Parkgate's Josh Nodder struck a shot from outside the box that dipped narrowly over the crossbar and within minutes Ben Dring was performing heroics at the other end, tipped Kurtis Morley's well struck shot over at full stretch.
On 36 minutes, Staveley's captain Carl Vickers, took advantage of a scramble in Parkgate's six yard box and hooked the ball into the goal with an overhead kick as he fell backwards across the goal line.
HT. Staveley Miners Welfare 1 v. Parkgate 0
The second half had barely begun when Parkgate were hit with a sucker punch, as James Whitefield broke free from his marker and fired home Staveley's second goal off the right hand post post.
Now Parkgate had the dilemma of whether or not to commit players forward to chase the game, leaving themselves vulnerable to counter attacking and defence splitting balls from Neil Cluxton's young Staveley side (they're renowned for being good at that sort of thing) or carry on in the same vein they were already playing in and hope for a bit more luck in the final third.
Ollie Graham intercepted a cross field pass in the middle of the park and advanced forward, but his shot was well held by Staveley's second half goalkeeper, Martin Dewberry who had replaced Adam Ledger at the break.
Glyn Cotton went agonisingly close to halving the arrears after 65 minutes, when his fiercely struck free kick beat Dewberry and the Staveley defence all ends up, but crashed against the right hand upright.
Kurtis Morley made room to get a shot in from outside the Parkgate box as Staveley looked to kill the game off, but the ball deflected wide off one of a number of Parkgate defenders who were blocking a clear shot on goal.
All in all, a pleasant afternoon, a decent game of football and in the end, the right result for a Staveley XI who'd just about shaded possession and deserved to win this years trophy.
Thanks to Kev, Keith and all the other unsung match day staff at Canarvon Street, for all the effort they've put in to making the tournament run like clockwork.
See you all again in the near future.

Left click to enlarge image

Pre season results elsewhere:
Bardon Hill Sports 0 v Teversal 3
Gainsborough Trinity 2 v Grimsby Town 2
Leamington FC 0 v Mansfield Town 1
Retford United 1 v Worksop Town 0
Rossington Main 3 v Winterton Rangers 1

Staveley Miners Welfare captain Carl Vickers is presented with the 2012 Teversal Trophy, by Mini-Me (possibly).