Sheffield U19 4 v Worksop Town U19 1 - NMU19L LC Final

Thursday 1st May 2014
at Inkersall Road, home of Staveley Miners Welfare
North Midland U19 League, League Cup Final
Sheffield FC U19 (2) 4
Max Pemberton 6, 73
Brad Bowland 30
Billy Wharam 84
Worksop Town U19 (1) 1
Harry Johnson 79
Admission £2.
Programme free.
Click HERE to see Ben Webster of Sheffield FC's excellent Flickr photo set from the NMU19L LC Final.
Sheffield FC U19:
Green, Shirley, Lumley, Wharam, White, Whittaker (Mike Fereday 51), Pemberton (c), Rogers (Torr 81), Mark Fereday, Bowland, Barnsley (McKenzie-Grey 90+1)
Unused subs - Nicholls, Johnson
Worksop Town U19:
Platts, Robinson, Johnson, Shires, Flannery (c), Billau (Knowles 70), Littlewood, Salt, Twell, Elliott, Camm (Davies 62)
Unused subs - Sahouet, Dobson, Galliford

Amber & black ... proper Worksop Town colours.

It was great to catch up with so many friendly faces from my Worksop Town days at Inkersall Road tonight, who'd travelled the short distance to Staveley along the A619, to get behind the young Tigers, who are (I'm very sad to report), folding after next Wednesday's home game against Retford United, which is being played at Sandy Lane, due to their usual home ground of Phoenix Park in Dinnington, no longer being available to use, for obvious reasons.
Knowing the magnanimous and sporting people behind Sheffield Club as well as I do, I'm sure they would be the first to concede that the Dronfield based sides 2-0 half time lead, owed much to an outstanding performance from their goalkeeper Joe Green, who put in an inspired shift.

Green, who also turns out for Penistone Church in the County Senior League, obviously has a great future ahead of him in the game, if tonight's display is anything to go by.
In between Sheffield's two first half strikes, their backline ... and Green in particular ... repelled wave upon wave of attacks from Kelvin Stannington's side and it beggared belief that they went in at the break two goals to the good.
But the Worksop players will have learnt a valuable lesson tonight; in so much as: it's all well and good playing attack minded football that is easy on the eye, but you've got to put your chances away too.

The Tigers hadn't really got settled into their stride when Max Pemberton opened the scoring on 6 minutes, but Jordan Broadbent's side would've have been quite relieved to have secured a two goal cushion when Brad Bowland coolly finished from just inside the box after half a hour, given how the game was shaping up at that point and how much Worksop pressure they were having to absorb.
As Sheffield had shown when they snatched a late, late victory against Staveley on their last visit to Inkersall Road, they stay focussed right up until the final whistle and work damn hard for each other too. And it was those attributes that ultimately won them the League Cup final tonight.

Man of the match - Sheffield FC keeper Joe Green

Of course, Worksop could probably claim ... and not without some justification ... that Sheffield got the rub of the green at times, which helped their cause and influenced the outcome no end. And nothing illustrated that more than when the seemingly tireless Pemberton got in the way of Corbin Shires attempted clearance and netted Clubs third goal with a slightly fortuitous rebound.
Of course, one could also counter claim that Pemberton was in the right place at the right time because of his penchant for making non stop runs into the right zones, on a night when he put in a real captain's performance.
Though Joe Green deserved his man of the match award, voted for by Sheffield, Worksop Town and neutrals alike, Pemberton's high performance work rate didn't go unnoticed either.

Cup Final Programme

With ten minutes to go, it was game on, when Harry Johnson finally beat Green with a well executed lob, from outside the area.
But, with the Tigers pushing on in search of more goals in a bid to take the final into extra time, Sheffield counter attacked and Billy Wharam put the game beyond the north Notts clubs reach on 84 minutes, when a Harvey Torr and Reece White free kick routine, presented him with the simplest of headed goals from close range.
An interesting contrast in styles tonight, made for an absorbing game, that was a credit to the North Midland Under 19's League and the ever growing stature and reputation it is currently enjoying.
Apparently, there are moves afoot to change the format of the NMU19L next season.
Thankfully, those decisions are being made by people who know more about football than me and understand the need of the League's member clubs more too.
But, my personally take on things, is that if it isn't broken, why fix it?
Just saying like!

Good luck to the Tigers U19 manager Kieran Stalingrad, with the new job at Hallam FC next season.